Sound: For The Fallen Dreams' third full-length album, "Back Burner", managed to do two things: to bring the recycled, generic metalcore sound back to the listener, and to fall below the several other generic metalcore bands that share their label. The guitar work contains power chords, overused metlcore riffs, and several open-note breakdowns. Every song shares similair, simple song structure. The typical "screams followed by a clean-sung chorus" formula is definitely overused on this album, and by the end it becomes very stale and bores the listener to tears. Even with this formula "Back Burner" falls short compared to today's other metalcore bands that share this formula. The breakdowns, 2-steps, and the climaxes of the songs are weak and unexciting, and the melodic parts lack any depth or texture. // 4
Lyrics and Singing: The vocals share the same stage with the rest of the band, in that you can expect highly produced screaming, and clean-sung (catchy?) choruses. The album's opener, "Say What You Will" is probably one of the best A Day To Remember impersonations out there. The lyrics unfortunately are in the same boat. There is the angst-filled lyrics that are found in every song. The most common topics include emptiness, anger at society, and frustration. While there is some emotion to be found in the lyrics, the disappointing vocal delivery takes all emotion out of it. // 5
Impression: While I was personally expecting better from For The Fallen Dreams based on their past albums, "Back Burner" disappointing me by providing a mediocre, generic metalcore album. One that brought absolutely nothing new to the table at all. The weak breakdowns, lack of climaxes, and the lame attempt at catchy, A Day To Remember type choruses create an album that puts For The Fallen Dreams below the other bands in the Rise Records family, which is saying quite a lot. // 4
