SHADOWS FALL BAND PAGE
 SHADOWS FALL
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CURRENT NAME
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Shadows Fall |
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FORMER NAMES
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- |
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ORIGIN
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Westfield, Massachusetts, USA |
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STATUS
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Active |
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FORMED IN
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1996 |
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LABEL
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Roadrunner Records |
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GENRE
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Hardcore; Metal |
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STYLE
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- |
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LYRICAL THEME
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- |
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BAND ADDED
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2005-12-11, 00:00 |
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LAST UPDATE
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2008-02-14, 06:46 |
Massachusetts' SHADOWS FALL are currently revolutionizing heavy metal rock music. New music "leaders" and "legends" seem to pop up just about every month now (thanks to most record labels' promotions departments), but what's staring you in the face will no doubt change the way you think about just how good a metal band can be. SHADOWS FALL not only bring together the BEST things that metal has ever had to offer, but they deliver their songs in a way that no other band ever has. The band's Century Media debut, Of One Blood, will in no doubt be the most welcomed and hailed new metal release of 2000. The members' individual talents will amaze every person who has the opportunity to witness their performance, and their songs will be loved by fans of Metallica's Master Of Puppets, Iron Maiden's Powerslave, Slayer's Seasons In The Abyss, Hatebreed's Satisfaction Is The Death Of Desire and In Flames' Whoracle. For each vocal growl there is also a note that is sang, and each fast guitar riff has a note structure that broadens it into something more special. Of One Blood is an album that knows no boundaries...
It all started in 1996 when guitarists Jonathan Donais and Matthew Bachand got together and started writing music as a side project. Soon both realized that the product was exciting and rewarding enough to make their conjunction a full-time unit, and eventually in the summer of '97 an outfit rounded out with bassist Paul Romanko, drummer David Germain and vocalist Phil Lebonte became a powerful force in the New England underground metal scene. Boasting a European-influenced style of aggro-death metal, SHADOWS FALL (the name comes from an short underground comic series published by Vertigo/DC in the early '90s) became very visible opening throughout the northeast for the likes of Fear Factory, Cannibal Corpse, Staind, Hatebreed and many other world-renowned acts. The band entered Zing Studio to record their self-financed debut album, Somber Eyes To The Sky, in late 1997, and the band name began to spread rapidly throughout the US. Although the band released the album in the States by themselves, good independent promotion landed Somber Eyes... in the CMJ Loud Rock Top 10 Chart (the highest charting album from an unsigned band in the trade magazine's history), and Genet Records in Belgium licensed the album to the European territories immediately (since then the album has been through two pressings on CD and vinyl in Europe and has sold 11,000 units between both continents). What set SHADOWS FALL immediately apart from other bands was that they excelled and were accepted in the metal, hardcore and noise scenes, which is reflected by the numerous and different styles of bands that they regularly share the stage with.
Soon the band were doing consecutive regional dates in support of Somber Eyes..., going out with Six Feet Under for a few shows and also landing two weeks worth of dates with Overcast and Shai Hulud in the summer of 1998. SHADOWS FALL also were invited to play the Cleveland World Series Of Metal, the Milwaukee Metalfest and a date with Sevendust on the Vans Warped Tour in the summer of '98, all without proper support and representation from a label. Feeling limited by Lebonte's vocal delivery and fearing they could be billed as a mere death metal sensation, SHADOWS FALL decided to make a change in the fall of 1998. Metalcore sensation Overcast had recently called it quits, and SHADOWS FALL brought in vocalist Brian Fair in to replace Lebonte. With Fair's dual-voice delivery (the man possesses both the harshest growl AND the catchiest clean voice heard in quite sometime) and both Donais' and Bachand's backing vocals (both are outstanding singers in their own right), SHADOWS FALL began writing in a more progressive style that makes the most of their incredible playing and their original three-man vocal delivery. The band became even more visible by accepting invitations to the 1999 March Metal Meltdown in New Jersey and also the first annual New England Metal & Hardcore Fest, both of which saw a massive crowd witness the band's new power and fury (the band also had a headlining spot on this year's New England Fest Metal & Hardcore Fest 2000 and will more than likely be on all of the North American metal festivals this year).
SHADOWS FALL finally signed a worldwide deal with Century Media Records in the late stages of 1999. There has never quite been an album that matches as much heaviness with equally as much melody like on Of One Blood, and with this album there is now a new standard in both North American and European metal. Produced by the band with engineer Zeuss at Planet-Z, Of One Blood boasts some very warm and distinctive tones to compliment the awesome playing and original creativity of the band. With guitar riffing that can rival vintage Exodus and Slayer, soloing that is as fluent as it is sharp and precise, and bass playing that is progressive as well as commanding and anchor-like, the stringsmen of SHADOWS FALL could all make it onto the covers of the world's bigger guitar magazines. Donais' and Bachand's guitar harmonies play a vital role in each of the band's tunes, and they not only make each song more effective and memorable but also change and form them into something different and very special. Germain's drum tracks on Of One Blood are a clinic in themselves, delivering lightning-fast double bass tempos and fills which are complimented perfectly with 4/4 rock rhythms and various breakdown passages. Not since '80s Metallica and Iron Maiden has a band been able to successfully use several time and riff changes throughout an individual song without losing the overall "catch" and identity of each tune. "Rootbound Apollo" opens with a plodding bass line and eerie guitar harmonies, and the chorus vocals are so melodic and progressive that the match is almost unbelievable. The best example of SHADOWS FALL comes in the title-track "Of One Blood", easily the band's best and most accomplished song to date. Prepared to be blown away, for SHADOWS FALL are about to start changing lives throughout the metal world...
In early December 2005 the band signed a major label deal with Atlantic Records.
