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When The Empire Falls: Self-Titled
Power/Progressive/Heavy Metal
Rating: 4.0/5.0

www.wtef.info
Poko Records (Finland)
www.myspace.com/whentheempirefalls

When The Empire Falls rises from Tampere, Finland, with a blend of heavy, power, and progressive metal. Their strength may be on the power side, yet their are some very convincing progressive elements. The vocals of Tommi Tanhuanpaa are strong and clear, no disgusting 'dirty vocals' here. As for the rest of the band, there is a very strong twin guitar attack and a pounding rhythm section. In a sense, WTEF reminds me of some American metal bands: mixing it up with clever arrangements, yet with more melody and guitar players that actually know how to solo. Additionally, the production is accurate and professional.

Some listeners and critics may pass WTEF as another ordinary offering of Scandinavian metal, and the could be right. But I think they should listen carefully. This as strong effort from a very young band. The have the talent and songwriting skills to be significant. The opening track, 'The Blood In Your Hands,' is a witness to this fact. The arrangement is sound and the vocals of Tommi Tanhuapaa as strong and clear as they are throughout this work, no disgusting 'dirty' vocals here. The title track is another song that shows WTEF's young brilliance as does 'Judgemement Awaits,' 'Wasted Times,' the surprisingly simple, 'Sinner,' and also the last cut 'Hollow.' This is surprisingly good metal from a nascent band from Finland.

I can easily recommend When The Empire Falls to any fan of strong heavy metal with good influences of melody and progressiveness. Sure, they're young and new and may easily go unoticed amongst the many bands from their region in this genre. But I think When The Empire Falls has a great future. I certainly hope so. Recommended!
  - Craig Hartranft


In Short

When The Empire Falls is a new band from Finland that has the strength of talent and songwriting skills to have a brilliant future. Will they? I hope so. Certainly, they can escape the notice of many metal fans simply because there is so much similar metal coming from their region. I say give them a listen: I think a metal fan will be pleased.

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