Part of a continuous advancing new Metal wave, Shadows Fall can be surely and totally fair named as one of its leaders and in general a very promising band. Though the term ''newcomers'' doesn't exactly suit them, as the band already counts 5 albums in its discography, Massachusetts' quintet made its presence widely noticeable after its 4th attempt with The Art Of Balance (2002) which I must add is until now Century Media's highest selling album of all time!
Do not be tricked by their categorization in the so called ''New Wave Of American Heavy Metal'', in reality their music is a lot more than that. And don't even think about granting them the - another shitty modern - Metal act which seeks airplay - sign. They are modern as well as classic, melodic as well as aggressive and...yeah talented enough to be all these things mentioned.
What can I say about these guys? At first I wasn't expecting to like them at all and that possibly was because of my rightfully prejudice towards the majority of bands that comprise the specific genre. In life though, meritocracy is a one way road and even someone as deaf as a post couldn't deny the band's quality value. Besides, the opening track doesn't leave space for doubts and reserves; from the beginning those guys prepare you for wondrous stuff inside The War Within.
First of all, blistering soloing! For God's sake we are talking about fuckin' Heavy Metal! Could you imagine it without a singing guitar and ear dropping solos? Well personally I can't, and neither do Shadows Fall who include brilliant ones inside every track supporting the already fine riffs. Also, the boisterous drumming with its precision together with the bass' huge growth literally flatten the speakers and bring out an incredible amount of strength and energy.
It's quite admirable what Shadows Fall achieve through their music. They've got marvelous groovy parts, hyper-rapid rhythms, a developed sense of melody but also a catastrophic need for brutality. For those who've never heard of them before, I could call them a fine Fear Factory, The Haunted,Carnal Forge mixture with some borrowed elements from the modern sound as the clean vocals in the more calm, melodic parts of the songs. It could belong to N.W.S.D.M. but it's far more varicolored. It could also be called as melodic Thrash  Metal, but that would be lightly limited.   
Thrash might be the main issue over here but not in the old traditional way as most of you have probably got used to. What you should expect here is a delicate balance between classic Metal influences and new-school characteristics (as the press release correctly says) that will satisfy a large group of Metal fans, mainly the more open-minded ones.
Oh boy, this album is a kick in the nuts and a very powerful one too. My congratulations to the two guitarists of the band who constitute an exception in the riff-dominated modern scene and have written down smashing solos that impress. You should definitely check this album out if you 're into multidimensional music.
Hot chops: The Light That Blinds, Stilness, The Power Of I And I, Act Of Contrition, Enlightened By The Cold and Those Who Cannot Speak.