We Are The Fallen – Tear The World Down

[habadaka]

www.yutube.com/watch?v=AaPXOM2PD98NoI

I’ve had to give this a few more listens than I normally would. At first, I dismissed it as a complete rip-off of Evanescence and Within Temptation, but, after some intense listening sessions, I actually found We Are The Fallen’s Tear The World Down to be rather tricky.

Firstly, let’s get one thing straight: the Ben Moody (ex-Evanescence) influence is undeniable! It does sound a lot like Evanescence’s Fallen (even WATF’s name is a slight offshoot of that album title), hence the constant (and merited) comparisons. It also doesn’t help that they perform symphonic rock and Carly Smithson’s operatic voice is way too similar to Amy Lee’s. In terms of that, it is blatantly obvious that they’re trying to tread in Evanescence’s territory.

Nonetheless, you have to draw the line between influence and imitation. When the album starts to sound like a B-side of Fallen, it becomes testing. One song that particularly annoys me is ‘Sleep Well, My Angel’, which should’ve been titled ‘My Immortal Pt. 2’. It follows the exact mood and generic song structure as ‘My Immortal’; piano and tear-jerking vocals for the most part, before climaxing into a full-blown rock ballad – extremely clichéd and puke-worthy musical piece.

Now here’s the crazy thing, when WATF avoid imitating Moody’s previous group and do their own thing, they’re actually pretty good – perhaps even better than Evanescence! ‘I Will Stay’ and ‘St. John’ are two diamonds in the rough, which would put most other symphonic rock numbers to shame – they’re original, beautifully written and well orchestrated pieces. If the band manages to build on these two tracks for future releases, Amy Lee might as well put her microphone down and go wash dishes in a soup kitchen.

I understand that Ben wrote most of the music for Evanescence, but Tear The World Down seems like he’s still trying to prove something to himself or Amy or the fans – who knows? He needs to let go and move on if his new musical project is to be as successful. We Are The Fallen have talent, but they need to find their own identity, instead of just being musical pantomimes.


Sergio reviews We Are The Fallen’s Tear The World Down.