Fallujah - Undying Light

As they’ve ascended through the ranks of the techdeath world, I’ve only ever minimally understood the hype surrounding Fallujah. The ever so slight metalcore tinge to their sound and energy in their performances, a lingering trait from their come-up in their hometown San Francisco hardcore scene, is the only significant difference I can discern between them and the bulk of the unexciting techdeath out there. And it’s not even a major differentiating element. Granted, it doesn’t take much deviation to stand out from the homogeneous techdeath norm. I don’t at all dislike Fallujah’s music, but what little novelty they bring to the table stylistically is hardly enough to set them apart (in my eyes) from the compositional rut they and their contemporaries fall into so regularly. I revisited their relatively short back catalog for this new release here, and while it’s a rather decent and consistent display of their comfort within the genre, I don’t see what exactly has compelled so many other publications to rave about them. I don’t mean for this to sound like I don’t think they deserve their success (I don’t worry quite that much about how successful artists are), just context for where I stand with their music in general. I do enjoy their music; I just find it to be decent but not all that special, and it’s just not the first thing I reach for when I feel like getting a taste of techdeath.

With that in mind, when I heard they had a new album coming out this year, I knew I was going to check it out just to see if they perhaps tried to switch things up or made any strides in their writing, or if they decided to keep going with what’s working for them (either to continued consistency or to staleness). What Undying Light delivers is mostly the latter (and the former within the parenthetical specification). Fallujah are keen to keep hold of their small, and apparently well-liked, corner of techdeath territory and opt to go by the straighter route with more of what they know. Consequently, there really isn’t much to report, aside from the smooth and almost unnoticeable integration of a new vocalist in place of founding member Alex Hoffman. The album goes over pretty uneventfully in both the good way and the bad way, with not much to talk about as far as highlights go. If anything, this is the most nondescript I have ever heard Fallujah sounding, and definitely not a step up from Dreamless or The Flesh Prevails. What dynamic the band brings to the table is rather predictable and generic, and it feels like they lose the little ground they had between them and the techdeath herd by continuing to coast on the genre’s low standard for creativity.

That being said, there really aren’t any signifying moments of weakness on the album to point to, but rather the album as a whole. The dragging “Distant and Cold” is the one real slump in the track listing. It feels so uncharacteristically low-energy for Fallujah, and I can see the vibe they were going for on the song, but the minimal ideas poured into it and the execution leave it feeling unaccomplished. It’s clearly meant to be a bit of a breather before the jump in energy of the closing track, but “Departure” doesn’t really depart with any more energy or vibrancy than the previous songs do.

This album really only solidified my opinion of Fallujah being a good enough, but not phenomenal band in their field. The technicality is there, but it’s not so dazzling or creative that it really differentiates them from their similarly technically proficient peers. And on Undying Light, it seems the band kind of went through the motions, still doing the bare minimum, but little more. I think even the band’s most ardent admirers will be able to acknowledge the dip in form this album showed, and hopefully this is the slump Fallujah need to really put more creativity into their approach swing back with something more exciting.

one of those techdeath albums/10