Review Summary: Understated
At times,
Vantage seems like an album that wants to collapse under its own weight, but its ambition is never substantial enough to crush itself. While
Fall of the Leafe keeps an apparently heavier past on life support, their focus is now on an accessible approach toward gothic hard rock. Moments tinged by death metal sprinkle themselves throughout the track list and are more frustrating than exciting. It seems as though fans of the accessibility of
Vantage’s radio goth rock approach will find these passages unnecessary or in bad taste, and one would think that fans of the band’s old sound would just wish that the group would dive back into their heavier side. Maybe there is a middle ground crowd that drools over this kind of stuff, but it seems to me like
Fall of the Leafe are containing themselves in an effort to appease everyone.
This way of approaching music is harmful to the medium, but it has become commonplace in more and more instances. In modern times, music as a whole arguably pushes more boundaries than it ever has before, but for every artist that creates something different, there is another that attempts to freeze dry that sound and sell it to the masses. At some point, this album’s style and what is now a safe swirl of genres might have been considered a powerful approach toward a new musical horizon. Unfortunately, now it seems very stale. With tip top production and completely competent (even somewhat talented) musicianship,
Fall of the Leafe can’t save the release from being an almost total bore.
The band is not without admirable qualities, but they are not enough to keep the band afloat. Instead of being impressed by an innovative and unique bass line, listeners are more likely to wonder why said line was used for such a tepid song. Certain tracks attempt to be more than they are by layering bland synths or stacking uninspired guitar chord progressions. Vocals even switch out of their native tongue (either Finnish or Swedish; I’m not going to guess which) to sing the more infectious sections in English. It doesn’t seem particularly necessary as they change back without warning and leave listeners trying to pick out words that aren’t a part of their language.
Vantage has its heart in the right place. For a lot of people, that’s more than enough. But if we are here to discern quality music from the lot of the medium then sometimes good intentions aren’t everything. Maybe the average person wants nothing more than nostalgic retreads when it comes to an artistic journey, but what music needs in order to sustain itself is to move forward. This is exactly where
Vantage falls short.
