Valkyrian Music

Jupiter Falls
Faces In The Sand Part One
Released 24th March 2017
Melodic Hard Rock
Released via Broken Road Records

Faces In The Sand Part One’ is the third album from the British hard rock band Jupiter Falls. The band was formed in 2013 and they have released two albums and one EP prior to this.

I’m not entirely sure what the tag ‘melodic hard rock’ actually means. For me hard rock has always referred to music that is heavier than classic rock but not quite “heavy” or aggressive enough to be considered metal. On the whole it tends to be more radio-friendly and tends to appeal to a larger audience. As far as the genre classifications go, there is a very wide spectrum of bands that have been labeled “hard rock”. Jupiter Falls’s influences range from Guns’N’Roses and Metallica to Bullet For My Valentine so that doesn’t really narrow it down to any specific category.

After the first few songs it soon becomes apparent that these guys don’t really stick to just one specific style. Their music is very guitar-orientated and relies heavily on the use of twin-guitar harmonies. But as far as genre goes, what we have here is an amalgamation of various styles within both rock and metal. On the heavier, more metal end, we get tracks like Its Your Problem Now and Sickened in which you can hear the groove-metal tones in the guitars and particularly the bass. Then we have the classic rock -style, power ballads Call Me and Follow You representing the band’s more melodic side. The vocals on these two reminded me of the early works of an American post-grunge/hard rock band Creed. If there is one track that really shows off the skill of the guitarists and proves just how well the twin-guitar harmonies can work, it’s Voices. That song is by far the most guitar-centered as well as being one of the heaviest tracks on the album.

In summary, ‘Faces In The Sand Part One’ is a fine example of modern hard rock. I’m not a guitarist so I can’t comment too much on the intricacies of the riff work, but I can tell that these guys are really skilled musicians. Whether you’re a fan of classic rock power ballads, modern metal or hard rock there will be something on this album that appeals to you.

4/5

Iza Raittila

This entry was posted on 3rd April 2017 at 12:59 pm and is filed under Uncategorized with tags Classic Rock, Hard rock. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.