Ah, SHADOWS FALL, is there any other band that chooses to squander as much talent as you have more consistently? I'm starting to think not. Both guitarists are excellent on their instruments and drummer Jason Bittner was a student at Berkelee and has filled in for Mike Portnoy several times, yet they seem content to write made-for-mass consumption heavy metal that appeals to those with low standards.

SHADOWS FALL was formed in 1995 and started out as a Melodic Death Metal band before evolving into their current Thrash-influenced Metalcore sound. Their original vocalist, Phil Labonte, went on to become the lead singer of American Hard Rock band ALL THAT REMAINS.

SHADOWS FALL has had the annoying tendency over the past several albums of writing 2-3 really good songs, and then filling the rest of the album with crap. This album is no different. My Demise starts off the album very promisingly, and it deceptively appears that this band is finally evolving, but as the album goes on they revert back to writing watered-down songs where the focus is on the chorus, as opposed to deviating from their formula and creating something fresh and original.

The riffs are typical chug-chug riffs which serve only as a means to add some heaviness to the songs, as opposed to perhaps adding something more. Many of these songs don't sound much different from some of the songs from the previous few albums and the same goes for the solos. They seem to follow the same pattern and by this point, they're actually boring, despite being quite technical. I feel as if I've heard many of them on a previous album.

Until this band fully embraces their potential as a modern thrash band (I'm talking about something like LAZARUS A.D., not another THE HAUNTED-type band), they will continue to dwell among other artistically mediocre bands like CHIMAIRA and LAMB OF GOD. SHADOWS FALL is just too talented to continue to produce by-the-numbers Heavy Metal. Oh, and guys, get rid of that singer. Yeah, he has dreadlocks but he has very little actual talent (most of the best parts vocally were done by the guitarists). It's obvious that his continued presence is more for image than anything musical.

Despite a couple of good songs and several promising sections (that ultimately lead nowhere), this album is anything but necessary.