Haste The Day - When Everything Falls
Rating
RIYL
ZaoAtreyu
Underoath
The Agony Scene
Release Date
06/28/2005
Label
Solid StateTracklist
1. Fallen2. The Perfect Night
3. Walkon
4. When Everything Falls
5. If I Could See
6. Walls And Fear
7. For A Lifetime
8. This Time It's Real
9. Bleed Alone
10. InstruMETAL
11. All I Have
12. Long Way Down
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Does every moderately successful metalcore band have to water down their “breakout” albums in order to appeal more to the Hot Topic, teenie-bopper crowd? Atreyu did it with The Curse. Norma Jean did it with O God, the Aftermath. Every Time I Die sounds like they’re going to do it with Gutter Phenomenon. Really it should be no surprise that Haste the Day would follow the trend and mellow out on When Everything Falls.
Sure, Haste the Day still sound like Zao, Atreyu, The Agony Scene, and Evergreen Terrace in a blender on liquefy, but instead of that being a good thing, as it has in the past, it doesn’t come out quite as well this time, probably because of the lack of Zao and The Agony Scene influence and a lot more Atreyu copycatting. There are moments on this cd when you can almost swear that you are listening to something from Atreyu’s current musical output or that you are hearing a bizarre version of Underoath that uses death metal growls in place of screams. Listen to “If I Could See” or “Fallen” and try to tell me that you can’t hear the influences.
Even with the newfound focus on melody and trendy, over-produced guitar licks, these guys can still rip shit up with the best of them. Listening to the pummeling breakdown choruses on “Walls & Fear” or the bridge on “This Time It’s Real” will reassure longtime fans that the old Haste the Day that was more concerned with brutality and making your ears bleed is still there, just in a new glossy form.
Now getting back on track about why this album isn’t as good as it could be… there is definitely a lack of quality guitar solo riffs like those found on Burning Bridges. Along with that, another thing that has been missing, since even before then, is the intricate song structures that were a staple on their debut EP, That They May Know You, which was easily their best work with everything since having been on a downhill progression and coming off as too streamlined.
Interestingly enough, one thing that will probably get Haste the Day a lot of attention is the inclusion of a cover of the Goo Goo Dolls’ “Long Way Down”. When I saw it in the tracklisting, I couldn’t wait to see how they would turn a mediocre pop-rock song into a metalcore anthem. Well, I’m still waiting. They hardly give the song a makeover other than by adding a few background screams which, by the way, are mixed in so low they’re almost inaudible. Other than those few screams, it’s a pretty basic cover of the song, which is just unacceptable.
Yet once again, a metalcore band has found themselves polishing up their sound, mellowing out, and leaving behind their strengths in order to try to make a splash into the mainstream of the genre. That doesn’t necessarily make this a bad cd, but in comparison to Haste the Day’s previous output, this disc definitely falls short.
--Rick Gebhardt
Comments
Minneapolis, MN
This time around, there does seem to be something missing. There's not as much of an edge and a whole lot more melody. While When Everything Falls is good in it's own light, I can't put it on the same pedestal with Burning Bridges. I definately would not go as far as saying they are Atreyu wannabe's though.
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Dallas, Texas
Compared to the author’s past efforts, it’s amateurishly written.
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Audioscrobbler
HAH!!! You get points just for referencing Sealab! BIZARRO!
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Yes HTD is a little different this time around and in some places its a good thing and in others, its a bad thing. You can't really blame them for changing a few things and automatically assume its to become 'mainstream'. If they played the exact same at they did on 'Burning Bridges' (which was an awesome disc by the way) then people would be saying 'oh it's exactly the same, just get burning bridges'.
There are some goods and bads here and I dont think enough of the goods were stated in ths review. I agree with the reviewer that this disc is different from their old material and 'That They May Know You' is their best work although 'Burning Bridges' is up there also. The album is decent, won't change the world, the genre or even really the band, it's just decent.
The lyrics are pretty standard for the band and so goes for the screaming to singing transition. In the end I say give it a listen, some of the new material follows the old HTD formula and keeps your head banging while other tracks will have you pressing the 'next track' button. I would certainly give this CD 3/5 rather than the 2.5/5 the reviewer gave, I just think it needs a bit more credit.
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I think the score you gave was more than fair and you hit some really good points, great review overall :)
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