Review Summary: Turmoil can take a toll on any band.
Michigan-based For The Fallen Dreams have been a staple in the metalcore genre for a solid number of years now. Hailed for releasing two above-mediocre albums (
Changes and
Relentless respectively), For The Fallen Dreams seemingly had no way to go but up in the music scene. But life's a bitch sometimes, and she hit FTFD hard.
Forced to replace three members, with the only
Relentless era members being Jim Hocking and vocalist Dylan Richter, FTFD had to find talent to try to succeed everything
Relentless was made out to be.
Did they succeed? Absolutely not.
In the day and age of 2011, metalcore listeners are wising up. They understand it's not all about breakdowns anymore, and it certainly isn't about seeing who can create the heaviest song. The fans now understand it's about being technical with your instrument, having strong song-writing capabilities, and just having a general flow and "knack" for making music in this very demanding genre. For The Fallen Dreams managed to completely ignore this little tidbit.
Back Burner is littered with breakdowns, clean choruses, and your nice melodic sections thrown in. The issue isn't that it's a new formula - on the contrary, this formula has served them well in the past. The lack of drummer Andrew Tkaczyk (leading song writer) is very clear on this album. His flare is no longer present, and there is no glimmer of him ever even being in the band.
What is now clear is the presence of Tom Denney's (ex- A Day To Remember) awful production techniques, and I'm pretty sure he had a hand in writing some of these ridiculous choruses and breakdowns on the album. Anyone who's ever listened to ADTR can feel his hands thoroughly raping you during this album, even if he did only produce it.
What's next for FTFD since this album just really isn't good? My suggestion would be to hit the drawing board, and try to find a formula that fits the new band line-up. If they can't succeed with that, then maybe it's time to hang up the hat and head back to Michigan.
