- Country: USA
- Style: Technical death metal / Progressive death metal
- Label: Nuclear Blast
- Release date: 9 September 2022
Empyrean is the first Fallujah album with Kyle Schaefer on vocals and Evan Brewer on bass, and you notice the new blood straight away. Schaefer’s growl is thick and blunt, closer to straight death metal than anything ornamental, and it gives Scott Carstairs’ shimmering leads something solid to push against.
The spacey, reverb-drenched guitar sound the band built its name on is all still here, but the songs hit harder this time. “Embrace Oblivion” and “Soulbreaker” are full of blasting, knotty tech-death riffs, and Brewer’s bass actually has room in the mix, which is a credit to Mark Lewis, who mixed and mastered the record. “Radiant Ascension”, with Tori Letzler’s guest vocals drifting over the top, is the moment where heaviness and atmosphere lock together perfectly.
It isn’t flawless. A couple of mid-album tracks run together, and the lyrics rarely register over the wall of guitars. Still, “Eden’s Lament” and closer “Artifacts” are as good as anything in the Fallujah catalogue, and after the lineup upheaval that preceded it, this sounds like a band with its spine back.
Best tracks:
Radiant Ascension
Embrace Oblivion
Soulbreaker
Artifacts
Author’s rating: 8.7/10
Gave it 5 stars
No member has given this album 5 stars yet. Join WeMetalheads and rate it.
