Band:	Slow Fall
Album:	Obsidian Waves
Style:	Melodic death metal
Release date:	June 2023

01. Polaris
02. Son Of Sleep
03. Obsidian Waves
04. Omega
05. Melancholy And Witchcraft
06. All The Blood
07. Reflections In The House Of Shadows
08. Reaper Of Days
09. Crown Of Dead Leaves

This one slowly grew on me: a melodic death metal album that managed to make me listen to it more times than I had initially expected after my first listen.

You might think after that initial introduction that I thought this album was merely OK after the first listen I gave to it, and that after that first listen I started to like this album a bit more. You would be mostly correct. Truth is, I liked Obsidian Waves already after the first listen, but I didn’t think I would find myself going back to it as much as I have these last couple of weeks.

Is there an explanation for that? Ehm... not really. It might be because I’m hungry while writing this review, but the best way I can describe this album is to compare it to comfort food. It’s the bog-standard plate of pasta with tomato sauce, but they’ve added some really nice spices to it. That makes Obsidian Waves (like I mentioned earlier) an easy record to get into, with a little bit more depth than you would get from a lot of other melodic death metal albums.

Production-wise, this is very solid. The drums are a tiny bit pushed back in the mix; I wouldn’t be surprised, though, if this was an intentional choice to create a certain atmosphere. The keyboards kind of follow this idea as well for the most part. In tandem with the drums and bass, they offer a strong yet subtle backbone for the guitars and vocals. Those two take, perhaps unsurprisingly, centre stage on Obsidian Waves. As a whole, though, I must say that I think the recipe they have got going works.

The performances are strong as well throughout the whole record. The vocals in particular were an aspect of Obsidian Waves that I thoroughly enjoyed. They are a good blend of screams, growls and cleans. A song like “Reflections In The House Of Shadows” perfectly encapsulates that. In fact, that song might actually be my favourite on this album, simply because of how effective and well executed the vocal performance is. Other highlights would be “All The Blood” and the title track. That being said, the album overall is very consistent in terms of songwriting quality and pacing.

So, I mentioned at the start of this review that Slow Fall’s latest slowly grew more and more on me. After four listens in total, I think I have definitely reached the point where it has shown its complete potential. Is this a spectacular release that will blow your mind? Probably not, but the fact that it succeeded in making me listen twice more to it after my standard two listens I do for a review, also should tell you something. Easy to pick up and enjoy, and as a result, I would say give this one a spin.