Fallen Order gives us their brand new EP The Age Of Kings, a magnificent, galloping, and rather fresh-sounding power metal album that really is an excellent listen all the way through. Fallen Order certainly has a very polished sound with all the elements and sounds bursting out of the speaker with liveliness and crisp clarity. Nice to hear a well-made the fine-tuned recording. Guitars are regularly galloping with varying rhythms to avoid monotony and keep the listener bopping along nicely. Early Heaven piercing falsettos immediately set the tone and style ahead, clearly letting you know what you have chosen.
If it’s power metal you love then you have chosen well, in saying that there are large chunks of traditional heavy metal also, with passages that almost fall into radio-friendly hard rock. The harmonies on the choruses provide several moments for you to sing along with some large hooks to keep you going for a while.
Good power metal bands need a good rhythm section and Fallen Order certainly has that with Tooley providing brilliant galloping bass and Nikki Terror belting out the drums. Guitars are shredded and crafted by Ben Jays and Kieran Gallagher delivering a classic heavy metal sound with power metal speed but with many mid-tempo passages and money, riffs placed semi strategically to heighten your interest on a regular basis. The guitars really have an excellent tone and a real cleanness to them which leaves a lasting impression and implants the melody firmly in your brain. The most integral part of this band though I think is the vocalist and vocals. Hamish Murray is the superstar on here without a doubt, wonderful melodic true singing with stratospheric falsettos and wonderful harmonies, a touch of low-end grunt when needed but rarely. Without Hamish’s skill and performance singing these songs, the record would be just another metal album.
The standout tracks for me are The Age Of Kings, the big finale title track which really has the feel of their masterpiece and is the longest track on here. Stand Together which is the opener is my favorite. A brilliant song with fast tempo guitars, falsettos, a big hook in the main riff, meant this was the song that I kept going back to. So damn good.
The Age Of Kings is an excellent EP of power/traditional metal, which I thoroughly enjoyed and I think will really please the fans of these genres. A highly recommended collection of music.
Fallen Order: Facebook
Release Year: 2014
Label: Stormspell Records
Category: EP
Country: New Zealand
Reviewed by Chris Rankin
