The Fall of Troy - In the Unlikely Event

Equal Vision Records	November 02, 2009

 

Not for the Camaro Rockers of Yester-year, but there is some hairspray in there
Fingers ablaze, The Fall of Troy return with more mathcore string orchestration with In the Unlikely Event. Be warned this album has its peaks and a valley or two, soaring with the intensity of a band who manipulate and bend guitar necks to do their bidding and there are also those moments where you wonder is this reaching too far into the inspiration drawer? No, this isn’t a love note to the band to change their ways and hopefully go back

to a happier, simpler time. Music entities such as the Fall of Troy can’t stand still too long, static is not in their vocabulary (I’m sure someone’s going to quote a lyric with static, whatever). The opening riff of the album has a zaniness that recalls early Troy, but it could also be confused for just about any other pedal effect laden band on the scene today. Panic Attack stumbles for a second, but it comes to life, as does the rest of the album. Battleship Graveyard is the hallmark, the seal of change for the band, not only have they reached a new plateau, but they’ve actually started a lovely bed and breakfast there. Protest the Hero’s Rody Walker makes an appearance on Dirty Pillow Talk and it really doesn’t coalesce, but it does do that one thing right (word of the day: zaniness). Bass lines are giant tethers to orbiting satellites, and Thomas Erak’s vocals have changed, but for the better as they’re focused now. There are times when the tangled mess is so beautifully arranged that the album stands to herald an entirely different bearing for this ship, but then there’s a clearing, and we’re presented with Empty the Clip, The King Is Dead, Long Live the Queen! which doesn’t live up to anything before and it’s all too much, like they were watching a hair band marathon on the T.V. The Fall of Troy are known for playing songs backwards, forwarding the bits that we hear and presenting that as our meal, but on the track Single it sounds like they’re settling on something concrete, clean, coherent (alliteration anyone?) so where does that leave the rest of the album? Well, it goes like this: for those infatuated with anything this band puts, they will hear white lies coming from their speakers as this old maiden comes bearing rouge on her cheeks, doled up for the company that only remarks on her past, never her present.

by Nathan Solis