I love science fiction, having read many novels by greats such as Asimov, Bradbury, and Herbert, and though I don’t read as much as I used to, I always enjoy diving into modern sci-fi as well as revisiting the classics. Sci-fi and metal go so well together, with plenty of great examples, and I love it when a band really dives in and does it well. San Francisco, California, based proggy tech death band Fallujah released their latest full length, “Xenotaph,” in June of this year, and they took inspiration from the Dune series in crafting this concept album chronicling a psychedelic sci-fi journey for the protagonist. The music mirrors this journey, taking many turns while bursting with technical prowess and progressive flavoring. There is plenty of heavy speed riffing, blastbeats, and growly snarls, balanced with lots of melody, great guitar leads, and clean vocals. Though there are always recognizable verse and chorus sections, the path to get there in each song varies, and you never know quite what to expect next. At times this album reminds me of Rivers of Nihil (sans the saxophone) or The Zenith Passage (who they are touring with in support of Entheos this fall), with a nice blend of technical heft and melodic dreaminess, but with a more broadly technical progressive canvas. I love the big melodic cleans that show up, adding nice textures to the soundscape, and the guitar gymnastics are fabulous with plenty of soloing and dueling. The drumming is varied, both able to pummel and just drive a song, with so many rhythmic and dynamic textures, and I bet it would be incredible live (no, I have not yet experienced Fallujah in a live setting!). It is an album that at times feels more like progressive metal with extreme tendencies instead of melodeath, and it reveals new secrets to the patient listener.

“In Stars We Drown” kicks things off with dreamy piano, synths, guitar, and silky cleans, rips your head off more properly, and then walks a tightrope delivering great melodies and heftier melodeath, before entering a dreamscape again. It transitions perfectly into “Kaleidoscope Waves,” which pummels you out of the gate with killer guitar solos and powerful drumming, slows things down, and then takes you on an exciting musical journey full of technical precision and fabulous song writing. It meanders between atmospheric melodic sections and more intense sections, with plenty of tasty guitar leadwork and drumming. The dichotomy between the smooth cleans and the gruff growls works very well and is used to good effect throughout the album.

“Labyrinth of Stone” is proggy tech death from the start, taking a guitar lead-centric approach rather than power riffing, adding a melodic edge to the extreme vocals and pounding drums. The song does a great job incorporating syncopated rhythms, technical guitar solos, big soaring cleans, brutal extreme vocals, and phenomenal song composition. This is easily one of my favorites on the album.

“The Crystalline Veil” has a big epic proggy feel from the outset. I really love the use of dynamics throughout, as well as the brutally heavy sections juxtaposed against the slower melodic sections, with the collision of both regularly. “Step Through the Portal and Breathe” was one of the singles from the album, and it does a great job demonstrating the complex nature of Fallujah. It is a clear example of my earlier comment of biasing more toward progressive metal than melodeath, even though it does feature plenty of extreme vocals and heftier riffing. There is a lot of intricacy in the guitar parts, the bass gets to shine, the drumming is doing all kinds of incredible things rhythmically, and it features some of the best leadwork on the album. The band does a great job creating atmosphere, not afraid to take their time and let the song progress organically. There is nothing linear about the song’s flow, and yet it all feels super cohesive.

Shorter track “A Parasitic Dream” starts out exactly like its title, making you feel like you are inside a creepy dream, atmospheric and mysterious, before ripping your head off with speedy tech death. It leverages the ethereal feel consistently, and I love it when a band uses musical mechanics to bring the theme of the song to life. “The Obsidian Architect” reminds me of Rivers of Nihil with its big wall of sound slower sections, speedier death metal sections, big soaring melodic vocals, and incredible atmosphere. It is another standout track. The album closes with the title track, and what a closing track it is! It is the album’s longest and really allows the band to explore a variety of musical textures. There are plenty of dreamy melodies, blastbeats, killer guitar leads, tempo shifts, and so much more. The faster sections with the slower vocals (both cleans and extremes) remind some of the recent Dawn of Ouroboros, creating tension in all the right ways, and the vocal layering throughout is used to great effect. The band does an exceptional job balancing brutality and speed with melody and atmosphere, and this song is a clinic for it.

I may be a bit late reviewing this album, but it is one I revisit regularly. I haven’t experienced Fallujah live yet, but this will be changing in just a couple of weeks, and I cannot wait. If you like super technical metal with a progressive landscape, you need to give this album a listen.

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