Album Review: Rise and Fall - Faith

Album Rating: B

Rise and Fall have been wandering around the hardcore scene for a number of years, pumping out a few fine pieces along the way.  However, nothing the band has ever done has really nailed it; records that scratch one's harcore itch, but not much aside from that.  Yet beneath this passable veneer has laid dormant a fervent energy just ready to rupture forth.  This deep seeded passion is Faith, the band's latest, and quite possibly greatest release.

Faith isn't really the thinking man's hardcore, nor is it a bumbling watered down affair.  No, Faith lies somewhere in between; a heavy hitting album that does nothing new because it doesn't really need to.  Within the album's 28 minute runtime, Rise and Fall errupt via short, explosive bouts of chaos.  Sure this descriptor has been said before, but that is because the album sort of sounds familiar.  Everything from the lyrics to the guitar lines reek of various influences from hardcore's storied past.  But do you know what?  It doesn't matter because Faith is solid enough in its own right to put much of its peers to shame.

Rise and Fall have solidified its songwritting enough so that nary a moment is wasted on Faith.  Even in some of the album's shorter songs, the band manages to pack in tons of energy and dark atmospheres.  But it is the longer, more drawn out pieces that pack the most punch.  "Things Are Different Now" and "Faith/Fate" are two of the album's most emotionally arresting songs, featuring some of the most heavy and thoughtful moments on the entire record.  Yet the rest of Faith does not cower in fear, as even the least memorable songs are still pretty damn enjoyable.

Faith doesn't reinvent the wheel.  But as stated previously, it truly does not need to do so.  On its own, it is an uncompromisingly heavy and chaotic album fit for hardcore fans from all walks of life.

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Track List

01. A Hammer and Nails
02. Deceiver
03. The Gallows Await
04. Burning At Both Ends
05. Things Are Different Now
06. Breathe
07. Hidden Hands
08. Escapism
09. Dead Weight
10. Faith / Fate