Album Review: Falsifier - 'Life In Death'

25 June 2016 | 2:43 pm | Staff Writer
Originally Appeared In

Monotonous breakdowns for days.

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What do you normally associate Canada with? Is it something as stereotypical as maple syrup, moose, and good natured people? Or is it just breakdowns and heavy mosh parts? It is certainly the latter if Falsifier has anything to say about it! This Ontario beatdown outfit have just been signed by Artery Recordings on the back of their 2015 EP ‘Life In Death’. But is it any good?

Well, the EP is certainly not lacking in the heaviness department. As soon as the first audio sample that precedes the title track ends, you’re immediately hit by seriously low-tuned guitars and the first of many, MANY breakdowns to come. The overall feel of this track reminds me of Aussie outfit, Graves, quite a bit. Next song, ‘I Am Death’, is really more of the same, and it relies on a few of the genre’s tropes, such as the ambient octave riffs on the higher guitar strings over all the chugging, low-tuned riffs. That’s not to say that there are no good riffs on the EP, because the one that kicks in after the intro is pretty damned good, although it immediately falls back into yet another breakdown shortly after.

Are you seeing a pattern at all here?!

Now, I’m no breakdown hater, (‘Burial Grounds’ has one of the best mosh parts on the EP) but when it’s seemingly ALL that you’re hearing in a song and a full release, you start to get bored. It doesn't help that the songs all maintain a very similar tempo as well. While the vocals are very strong and brutal, however, the lyrics behind them can become a little clichéd. As can the overuse of what I like to call the "edgy" samples.

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'"Edgy samples?" What are these exactly?', I hear you say.

Well, with bands like of this ilk, it’s often used at the start of a track to set the overall mood, usually dark or brooding. There are quite a few of these samples placed on this EP, notably from serial killers like Richard Ramirez (commonly referred to as the Night Stalker), Charles Manson, and Ted Bundy. By the time I heard the second or third of these used in the songs, I started to think that the band had parodied themselves a fair bit. As it doesn’t seem to break the monotony, rather, it just reinforces it.

Finally, the EP's production is just as you’d expect; tight and solid but nothing amazing. Because the guitars are tuned so low, they tend to drown out the bass altogether which isn't that surprising. Sure, it’s decent overall in the mix department, but it's nothing that you'd really want to write home about.

'Life In Death' is certainly very dark and very heavy, but that doesn't mean it's good. I'm sure that in the live setting this sound would work a whole lot better. But for me personally I didn't find a whole lot that warranted repeated listens to Falsifier's new EP in the future.

1. Life In Death

2. I Am Death

3. Burial Grounds

4. Malevolent

5. Human Filth