Originally written by Ramar Pittance
Expectations are a bitch, my friend. Kept too low and you end up praising albums only possessing the positive attribute of not being as mediocre as you expected. Held too high, and even an album of the highest quality will be trashed for not living up to the impossibly high standards you set for it. Dead to Fall’s debut Everything I Touch Falls to Pieces is an important album to me. I was floored by the band’s youthful energy and dynamic songwriting approach. Needless to say, my expectations for Villainy and Virtue were extremely high. Upon numerous listens, I can assuredly state that Dead to Fall have released another stellar album. However, they may have slightly faltered in the task ascending to the near unattainable heights of my lofty expectations.
Relying on a familiar blend of Swedish melodies and pummeling breakdowns, the appeal of Dead to Fall lies not in innovation, but in passionate performance. A vast majority of the riffs and melodies on display here are fairly recognizable, and many listeners may have already come across them in their various wanderings through this well trodden genre. However, these riffs and melodies are performed so deliberately and precisely that they actually sound like integral links in each song’s chain. It feels and sounds like more than mindless In Flames aping. Take for example the album’s opener “Torn Self.” The lead riff reeks of Steelbath Suicide era Soilwork, only with chunkier guitar tone. However, it is the dedication to driving this riff into the listener’s cranium that sticks not the allusions to late 90’s gothenmetal. “Stand Your Ground” relies on some steady tremolo picking to get the song started before breaking into some doomish moments. The transition occurs effortlessly, and is a strong example of just how well this band clicks when they slow things down. In fact, Dead to Fall is at its most pummeling when they lay off the throttle and allow their somber melodies and massive production to envelop the listener. This mentality is further explored with great success in the Cult of Luna/Norma Jean sounding instrumental “Cross Section,” and the album’s finale “Epilogue.”
However, despite all there is to be pleased with on this album, I can’t help but feel that in tightening their approach, this band may have also lost a bit of what made their debut so endearing. The raw, almost D.I.Y sounding production has been replaced by a booming bottom heavy mix, which adds enormous weight to the album’s various breakdowns and doom laden dirges, but also has the effect of stripping some of these songs of their distinctiveness. It really is a give or take situation, though. Many will be pleased with the heft of this recording, others may find it slightly sterilizing. The slight alteration in Jonathan Hunt’s vocal approach may also come as a bit of a disappointment to some fans of Everything I touch Falls to Pieces. The Jeff Walker inspired snarls have been replaced by the ever so typical hardcore bark. He’s also finds himself occasionally lost in the album’s wall of sound and as a result does not have quite the same bite as he did on Everything I Touch Falls To Pieces.
As mentioned, the burden of high expectations is often far too much for any group of artists to live up to, no matter how great their talent or vision. Not too surprisingly, Dead to Fall have ever so narrowly failed to live up to mine. However, judged on its own merits, Villainy and Virtue is quite the album. The songs are well written, executed passionately, and rendered with heft. As a result, they have put together an album that stomps all over most recent metal-core releases; just not their previous one.
