THE FALLEN WITHIN -

THE FALLEN WITHIN - INTOXICATED - CORONER  
One would hate to see a youthful label, like Coroner Records, which has started well and issued several good albums recently fall by the wayside. Yet, it seems like every label insists on spreading itself thin and covering bases by signing and releasing albums from a variety of styles. Perhaps it is not a coincidence that The Fallen Within’s Intoxicated was issued alongside Disarmonia Mundi’s The Isolation Game. Moreover, both albums’ titles seem predictive. Could it be the power of subconscious at work perhaps?
Intoxicated begins with an intro called My Vanity. It seems like the band serves immediate notice that techno and dance synthesizers will clog its album. Indeed, most of the time the band’s insistence that speedy metal be defiled and watered down by synthesizers and effects sounds like the recording of a metal song interrupted by the passing of a futuristic spaceship. The first proper song, Sound Of Destruction, is just such a trendy track with the guitar solo (and the song) cut own by a synthesizer run and melodic alterna-vocal patterns. The group is quite tight and, on occasion, delivers solos and a tight guitar rhythm like Arch Enemy, but then come the keyboards - and even a string section - and down goes the ship. Endless Reality is a song that alternates action-packed heaviness with frenzied keyboards. The Great Fall is again accurately named and is probably the most commercial emotional crooning and growling song ever. It smells of mallcore though despite the fairly complex song structure.
The band has a strong foundation and very intricate compositions. The vocals have obviously been worked on and layered extensively with different approaches and the production is not lacking whatsoever. Unfortunately, with the keys dancing all over the entire album what else could a metal magazine proclaim, but 'stay away.' - Ali “The Metallian”