All Else Fails
The False Sanctuary

All Else Fails, that sounds a bit dramatic I guess, all but this Canadian band perhaps. A band with little over a decade releasing albums and EPs now, and this new release is an EP with five tracks left over from the previous album and two newly written tracks. That is what makes The False Sanctuary, seven tracks and a little less than thirty minutes of music. Pretty funny artwork, so it looks fun and the logo makes you think of the likes of In Flames. But what about the music then?

They are compared with bands like In Flames, Killswitch Engage, Alexisonfire and more like those guys. And if you know these bands you have a good frame of reference to how they sound, heavy and modern metal. It is a touch of melodic death metal, a bit punkish, a bit groovy and things like that. The songs show a decent variation and thanks to the short playing time you will not really have time to grow too tired of the album before it ends. The production is good and the sound is powerful and melodic with a crisp feeling to it – really good in that regards. Growly vocals like in the modern death metal, they do sound modern but at the same time they don’t really offer anything new – it is quite familiar.

Good album. You could leave it at that because that is really the one thing you think, the songs are good but none of them really stand out. The music is good but not really memorable. And you can go on like that with things that are really good but nothing that really makes the album fly higher than its competitors. I think All Else Fails has but together a good release here but it lacks that little bit of flair that makes a good album great, The False Sanctuary is a good but in the end it isn’t a very special album.

Fans of the band will like this, and it is likely that fans of the similar bands and those that are similar to them will find it appealing as well. The general audience will probably like the album as well but they will probably not be overly impressed with it and forget it pretty soon. It is a good album with good energy and things like that, but it is only a false sanctuary from the plight of similitude that plagues the world of music these days.

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