Dead to Fall
Are You Serious?
Victory
"On the count of three, you're going to circle-pit and cluck like a chicken."
It’s always a critic’s crutch to make reference to the title of the album he/she is reviewing. However, sometimes it’s unavoidable or just needs to be done—similar to quipping “Really, what’s his name?” when your buddy leaves “I have a date tonight” hanging. After listening to “Major Rager,” which tells the first-person tale of a teen who realizes he’s in deep shit after hosting an out-of-control party, and “Stupid?,” which appears to be a chapter of Dead to Fall’s songwriting playbook set to music, the answer to the question posed by the album title is clear: nope.
On their previous album, The Phoenix Throne, Dead to Fall set an adventurous standard for the limping metalcore genre. The riffing was playful and unique, and the Chicago band made positive strides in setting themselves apart from the ever-growing pack. All especially surprising, considering that four years ago an At the Gates cover was the highlight of their live set. With Are You Serious? it appears that they’re continuing to distinguish themselves by adding a pervasive sense of wiseassery to the lyrics and themes. The album’s intro and “The Future” have an element of hypnosis (both clinical and 1950’s sci-fi movie) before songs about epic benders and, er, their songs take over. The keyboards in “Cropgrower” are eerie and dreamlike, while “Loch Ness” and “Brainmelter” have coruscating and droning feels, with the main melody in the former being the sort of thing you hear at new-age hypnosis and self-help conferences.
This sort of altered consciousness/hypno-metalli-core appears to be the path Dead to Fall are traveling down when they’re not adding oddball harmonies or engaging in off-kilter guitar duels. The idea may seem ridiculous, but there’s an amount of consciousness alteration that goes into all music; just ask yourself when you’re off in another world while listening to old Voivod or Oceanic. Hypno-metalli-core? Am I fucking serious? Are they serious? Only Criss Angel knows. —Kevin Stewart-Panko
