FALLSTAF

FALLSTAF     “Ode To The Dead”

By Dr. Abner Mality

I remember this crazy Montreal band from over ten years ago. They added the sound of a trombone to their simple nu metal/hardcore tunes to create something called “brass metal”. Their album “Bastard Sons of A Pure Breed” wasn’t the greatest thing I’d heard by a long shot, but it was fun to listen to and dared to try something different.

They disappeared after that one album and for a very good reason. Lead singer IANN found himself in a devastating accident that resulted in one of his legs being amputated and a long period of learning to live with the disability. The decision was ultimately made for FALLSTAF to return and thus, we have “Ode To The Dead”. Ahead of anything else, you have to give props to IANN for not giving up and to the band for sticking with him.

“Ode To The Dead” is a short album that sees FALLSTAF coming across heavier and darker than on their debut. The trombone playing of the masked RICKK is still front and center and gives a nice brassy kick to the heavy riffs being played. There’s very little in the way of guitar soloing here and riffs are groovy and easy, giving things a nu-metal layer. But the band works hard to keep the heaviness in every track.

As for IANN’s vocals, the guy basically bellows into the mike without a lot of nuance. On “Bastard Son” and “The Burden”, clean vocals are inserted but to be honest, they don’t work well and “The Burden” in particular sounds really horrible in vocal terms. One impressive part of their arsenal is the drumming of MATT, which is extremely energetic and active. Production is nice and thick and everything including the trombone sounds organic.

My fave tunes here were the piledriving “Bastard Son” and powerful “Kings of the West Side”. The music of FALLSTAF remains just this side of average, but there’s a feeling of goofy fun to the band that makes them fairly enjoyable.

FALLSTAF