Formed in 2009, FALLING LEAVES emerged from the shadows to carve out a distinctive niche within the melodic death doom metal genre. Spearheaded by a shared passion for creating music that encapsulates the profound and often melancholic aspects of the human experience, the band drew deep inspiration from doom metal icons such as MY DYING BRIDE and NOVEMBER’s DOOM. Their music is a tapestry woven with the themes intrinsic to doom metal: despair, existential dread, and the passage of time, reflecting a haunting exploration of life’s darker passages. With an atmosphere that is both heavy and melodic, they transcend the typical confines of their genre, crafting soundscapes that are as introspective as they are intense.

“Carvings” is first. The somber sound enters slowly, and then a hard riff drops with backing orchestral elements. The vocals are spoken at times, which is unusual, and then morph to clean harmonies, then gutturals. “The Angel on My Shoulder” features mostly guttural vocals, and some lead guitar notes in the mix. The beautiful part of this genre is that the vocals sound good whether they are clean or harsh. There are also cleans, and more spoken vocals, and that burden…that weight…hangs in the air. “We Are Alone” takes things to an even more depressing area, and this is a key feature of the genre. The tones are so melancholy, you can feel them deep in your bones.

“Ashes of My Mind” has another somber and melancholy sound. So far, however, some of the songs are just a bit thin. They could be thickened with harder riffs, or with further orchestration. “The Everlasting Wounds” opens with what sounds like saxophone notes, that drip with regret. “I have lost a life that I never truly lived,” he croons, at first in a clean voice, and then repeated in gutturals. “The Visions of the Forsaken” features sober sounding strings and piano, that accompany the song and is emotionally impactful. At this point in the album however, I was hoping for a little more diversity from song to song…a bit of a different vibe, or even pace.

“Re-Silence (Part III)” is the closing song, and I love the piano-led entrance. “When I close my eyes I can still see the way you smiled at me” is a line that sums up the emptiness of the song well. Overall, this was a good album, but it could have been better with more diversity from song to song. In my opinion, they need to take more chances, which can be done while still retaining their sound.