Fallujah – Xenotaph review – Metal Storm

01. In Stars We Drown
02. Kaleidoscopic Waves
03. Labyrinth Of Stone
04. The Crystalline Veil
05. Step Through the Portal And Breathe
06. A Parasitic Dream
07. The Obsidian Architect
08. Xenotaph

The revolving door of Fallujah has been spinning consistently pretty much since their inception, but (with one obvious exception) they’ve managed to hit it out the park every time, and Xenotaph maintains the good form.

The exception referred to above is of course Undying Light, which I was rather uncomplimentary towards upon its release in 2019. However, founding guitarist Scott Carstairs is the sole remaining member from that album’s line-up, and two fresh faces appear on Xenotaph; Kevin Alexander (Disembodied Tyrant) replaces founding drummer Andrew Baird (who’s busy making magic with Exuvial now), while Sam Mooradian joins Carstairs on the guitar front. Still, it is perhaps one of the names who debuted on comeback release Empyrean that makes the biggest impact on this new record.

You might expect me to be referring to bass maestro Evan Brewer, but it is actually vocalist Kyle Schaefer who is behind the most notable distinguishing factor of Xenotaph. Fallujah have featured clean vocals on past releases, typically in the form of guest cameos, and Schaefer himself had a couple of snippets on Empyrean, but this time around that has been massively upscaled, as Xenotaph is a legitimate mixed vocal release. This is apparent right from introductory song “In Stars We Drown”, the first vocal style of which is in fact clean singing atop the band’s signature melodic lead guitar textures; across the album as a whole, growls and screams dominate the verses, but Schaefer lays down very solid clean vocals in tandem or in place of the harsh ones in several choruses and mid-song detours, most notably the very hook-oriented chorus of “Labyrinth Of Stone”.

With all that said, however, the one person who can be credited for keeping Fallujah’s music at such a high standard (Undying Light aside) for close to two decades is Carstairs. I really am a complete sucker for his guitar playing, whether it be the riffs, shredding solos, melodic leads or semi-ambient textures, and Xenotaph is another feast to savour when it comes to his instrumental skills. “In Stars We Drown” is almost an intro rather than a full song, but “Kaleidoscopic Waves” has the band’s classic shredding and lead lines trading off in combo with blasts and double bass rolls right from the off. The song has tasty leads accompanying rapid rolling chugs, delicious soloing, and lush semi-ambient bridge sections, while the chorus reprise right at the end strikes a very good balance between rampant energy while emphasizing melodicism.

The album perhaps isn’t always the most naturally fused together; “The Crystalline Veil” and “The Obsidian Architect” both tend to jump around a bit disjointedly. Still, other songs (particularly “Step Through The Portal And Breathe”) are assembled very rewardingly, and that’s before we focus down on specific sections in which Fallujah shine. One area of the album that really excels is the song outros; the mixture of groove and technicality in the outro of “Labyrinth Of Stone”, the melodic-technical riffing at the end of “The Crystalline Veil”, and the brooding chugging of “The Obsidian Architect” with the growls and melodic guitar textures atop: these are all among the peak moments of Xenotaph.

Other standout segments include the The Flesh Prevails-style duelling guitars in “Step Through The Portal And Beathe”, the interplay of the shredding, riffing and drum rhythms in the same song’s mid-track instrumental-only section, and the ambient break segueing into a meaty rolling groove in “Labyrinth Of Stone”. The album does also have a brighter, more alluring production to it than its predecessor. If I have to be brutally honest, though, I do think the album falls short of the group’s strongest records due to the lack of overall standout songs; there’s nothing here rivalling a “Radiant Ascension” or “Into The Eventide” from Empyrean, let alone the peaks of The Flesh Prevails or Dreamless. In contrast, I find “A Parasitic Dream”, brief as it is, to be a bit of a janky and unsatisfying song, being creative with the off-kilter stop-start rhythms but not really captivating in the process (although even it ends on a high note with a solid outro).

Probably the closest the album gets to a standout track rivalling those predecessors is the closing title track, which is also the album’s longest. It has some sick rapid riffing right from the off enhanced by thick rolling double bass, and the blackened touch to the all-out blasting melodic assault around the 3-minute mark, plus a really great technical riff a minute later, all count among the album’s best moments. Still, it does lull a tad too long in the middle, and the strong double bass groove that follows could have perhaps been dwelled upon longer to maximize its impact before the song faded into isolated clean vocals. It’s a solid song that caps off a very good album, however, and as someone whose passion for this band was completely rejuvenated by Empyrean, I am on the whole perfectly satisfied by its successor.

Written on 18.06.2025 by Hey chief let’s talk why not