WASTEFALL

I originally heard the track "Vulturnus", and I was thrilled. In fact, my wife was interested, too. The low-tuned guitars are heavy and played in such an off-tempo fashion that they end up gripping the listener. Even the lyrics and vox were interesting, and I couldn't really place the influences. However, like some other albums I've heard recently, I feel like "Meridiem" is a mixed bag, for each song is quite different. Many times this would be okay, but the EP ends up feeling unstructured and fragmented. There is nothing linking the differences in vox and style, except for perhaps a strangeness that pervades the whole EP. I almost feel like the band threw some different styles out there to see which would stick!

Wastefall can really bring the awesome grooves and thundering riffs, and they certainly know how to break the music down into more complex and progressive segments. However, I come away unimpressed overall, for the EP ends up feeling broken, incomplete, and like a mish mash of cool ideas with no connections or meaning. This EP shows promise for the future, however, and they certainly earn points for originality. In the end, that means something.

The dramatic atmosphere are always a mark of Wastefall sound and you will not miss it in Self Exile, the album ranging from the mellowest part to the heaviest complex riffs with the incredible vocal melodies that usually cause shivers through my brains.. Versatile time signature, still solid and well written, and from time to time you can hear the keyboards interruptions that enrich the whole scene and adds a salt to the meal...

It's difficult to chose best songs cause the album literally is a huge dramatic work that you can't turn your concentration away for a second otherwise, you will lose a moment of pleasure certainly, but just to highlight, E.Y.E, dance of descent and sleepwalk are the best and closest songs to me..

I urge any prog metal fans whom are searching for advance, unique and talented progressive music to give an ear to those Greek band..

My final mrak will be 4 stars easily earned and Let us all pray for a quick reunion after the split in 2007...

Regards

This is the debut album from one of the most promising bands I have ever heard of my homeland, Greece. Unfortunately, Wastefall has recently disbanded due to some individual personal reasons. And I say unfortunately because for the Greek metal/prog scene this is an album that created lots of expectations to the fans of the scene and the genre overall. The music balances between modern (even nu- at times) and progressive metal with clear influences, the most distinct being Pain of Salvation. However, in my view, comments like 'POS rip-off' or 'POS copy' don't reflect the rality.

Wastefall's music in FSARS is an interesting mix of melodic and agressive prog metal. The positive with this debut is that it is 'focused' to a certain style; the 'target' is clear. The musicians seem to be highly skilled and the compositions are solid. The vocals, a very strong asset of this record, resemble to those of Daniel Gildenlow but with the addition of the Greek accent (mostly realised at the most 'balladish' parts of the songs). The main strong point is the heavy, distorted sound of the guitars in the vein of Conception and Pain of Salvation.

In terms of 'musical quality' the album can be divided in 3 sections, with the first and last being at a decent level and the middle part being rather weak. Impressingly, the agressive songs seem to fit the band better than their efforts in 'smoothening' their sound. The keyboards, wherever used, and the limited female vocals seem to work very well. The opening track (one of the highlights) sums up quite nicely what Wastefall's sound mostly represents - heavy agressive couples and melodic refrains - and gives you an idea of what is about to follow. In the following tracks I identified influences ranging from Iced Earth (Like father Like None) to Anathema (Confession). The only track that does not really relate with the album's sound is the closing electronica-based, trip-hop-alike One with the Fall.

To the negative points, I thought that the production (though not bad) could be better, especially the sound of drums. The resemblance to PoS certainly creates an 'originality issue' and the Greek accent is another small con. The singer's voice in general is ideal for prog metal and the compositions are well-worked and presented. The heaviness is there and is possibly the best aspect of this solid debut.

Recommended for fans of PoS and, possibly, Psychotic Waltz and modern prog metal listeners. Killing of Wolves, Like Father Like None, Subroutine and That Was All About are probably the best examples.

Best tracks: Empty Heaven, Lesser, Self Extinction Project and Riot of Oblivion

Rate: 3

Firstly come the vocals,they are excellent,Dominik's voice is very similar to Daniel Gildenlow's but he has the power and the range to sing very expressively,one of the better vocalists I have heard in a greek band...Secondly the songs are better,the production is better,the arrangements are better...WASTEFALL do not imitate PoS,to my ears they use their music as a guide...The biggest difference is that this album is very guitar dominated,the keyboards play a second role in the background,except for the last track which is an instrumental track very close- except toPoS -to the sound of RIVERSIDE,very psychedelic and atmospheric...

WASTEFALL created a very good debut which deserves a solid 3 star rating.It is obvious that they lack in originality,so what I expect from them in the future is a bit of variety in their sound and a more personal sound...Recommended especially for fans of PAIN OF SALVATION but it should also thrill explorers of a more dark,psychotic and atmospheric metal sound!

Another prog met again? Why not! Couple of reasons why people, especially the young generation, like metal-related music or they call it progressive metal style. First, the music contains complexity, heavy riffing and harmonies. Second, some people like it because of its energy, power and speed. Whatever the reason is, this progressive metal genre has become a recent trend. Me too . I like it also. In fact, even in this sub genre, I can find different kind of music styles from Fates Warning with its floating style, Dream Theater with its speed and complexity, Pain of Salvation with its hip-hop as well as floating style, Shadow Gallery which a bit of following the Dream Theater's stream - all of them I enjoy. So, I don't see the reason for not liking this sub genre.

The album lifts off with an instrumental with a bit of raw composition "Soulrain" (2:55) followed with "Stunned To The World" (5:06) which demonstrates raw guitar sounds and riffs. I can confirm that the singing style of the lead singer is similar (sometimes) with Daniel Gildenlow of Pain of Salvation. The music style is not similar as wastefall's music is raw (by design, I believe) especially in guitar mixing. "Empty Haven" (7:19) is a song with many tempo changes and relatively fast tempo." Lullaby For The Gods" (6:40) starts off with an ambient keyboard work followed with mellow music style. I like "Live With It" (5:28) because it has good melody and heavy guitar riffs and raw mixing. "Summerlonging Angels" (4:55) provides nice acoustic guitar work in fills and rhythm style. This song is similar to Dream Theater in style. The epic "Riot Of Oblivion (10:34) is a nice composition blending the heavy parts and a bit of symphonic style at background. I agree that "21" (5:03) is similar with Pain of Salvation with repect to, especially, singing style.

Peace on earth and mercy mild - GW

The first time I listened to Wastefall was in a festival in which they played the same day with Black Label Society, Velvet Revolver and Black Sabbath. Although the sun was still shining, Wastefall did an excellent live show playing tracks mostly from this album. When I bought the cd, I was disappointed mostly by the drums sound. Later I noticed that in the cd the drummer was different. The album was recorded with George playing drums while the drummer I saw live and is the current drummer of Wastefall, is Kostis Papaleksopoulos.

The music has often been connected to Pain Of Salvation's. The music to say the truth is a mixture of power-metal with modern-metal (I won't say nu) and progressive-metal. Heavy riffs and melodies and Domenik Papaemmanouil's voice are what really show the power-metal tendencies while complexity and odd time signatures are what make the music progressive. Moreover there are a few other elements that make the music really interesting, experimental and unique such as influences from eastern music (Empty Heaven). The songs are mostly based on great, heavy and powerful riffs and have powerful choruses. The violin and keyboards show the other side of Wastefall with amazing passages.

I won't say much about the lyrics or the concept cause I think it was something that really touched me. One might say that it's very poor in delivery or the opposite but in this special case I'll try not to comment. I will just say that Domenik's voice, while not my cup of tea, is really expressive and emotional.

Overall I think it's a great album not only for Greek standards but national as well. I once happened to be inside the club they would perform at the time they did the sound check and I was pleased to see Domenik play the main riff of Blackest Eyes. It's easy to see the bands influences but nobody should think that Wastefall are a POS-clone or something. The artwork was made by the vocalist of Fragile Vastness (another great greek prog band) and is pretty good. A truly unique band that is worth checking if you are a prog-metal fan.

"It's just a walk there down the hill they went out to play to talk to April's rain in a sad strange afternoon, The years were few but what to do when the heart's flirting the sky the clouds are waving goodbye and the journey has begun...." Further listening: Fragile Vastness - A Tribute To Life

The vocals offer more of a "mainstream" rock/metal feel to them than a "prog" sound. One thing that always disturbed me with this album is that they would seem like they would get a really great riff going, but then they would move immediately on to something else, and so the moment where you go "man that's really cool" only lasts for a few seconds.

Another thing that disturbs me here is why metal band's feel the need to have the soft-ballad. Minutes to abandon is such a track, and while it isn't terrible, it offers nothing memorable or unique. The best track here is probably Dance of Descent, which has intriguing songwriting structure that reminds me of Orphaned Land's Mabool. Overall it's not that bad of an effort, but I never feel really moved by any of these tracks.

Wastefall's latest album Self Exile is an interesting release. This band has the ability to combine Progressive Metal with many different timbres. There's something for everyone throughout the course of this album. There's aggressive Metal riffing, bluesy guitar leads, sasy drum fills, fusion bass melodies, and even some Flamenco guitar leads. All in all, this album has a variety of points of interest. Chances are, a listener will pay more attention to different parts throughout this album, coming up with a pleasant surpise with each listen. There aren't really any standout tracks, but each one has it's own tools that it brings to this album.

Domenik Papaemmanouil is the lead vocalist and one of the guitarists for this band. His vocal style is particularly reminiscient of Pain of Salvation's front genius Daniel Gildenlow. Papaemmamnouil's vocal style has a variety of textures that account for a big reason of why a listener can be so caught up in the flow of this album.

Alex Katsiyiannis is the other guitarist. He relieved from vocal duties is able to show off more lead talents. The chordal harmonies in the guitars are all but boring. This band can pull of a variety of tones that attack the listener in different ways. The album is anything but relentless in it's atmosphere, it attemps to show many different moods. The lead playing from Katsiyiannis is first class. He solos of a variety of chords and modulations with great feel and phrasing.

Christos Kyrkilis' keyboards unfortunately don't seem to be an essential part of this album. Just like Hermannson from Pain of Salvation Kyrkilis adds a great sense of melody to the compositions, but unfortunately unlike Hermannson, Kyrkilis does not have the unison role in Wastefall that Hermannson has in Pain of Salvation. A good performance, but not the most inspiring I have ever heard from a keyboardist.

Nick Valetzis' bass playing helps to gives this band a distinctly different sound from Pain of Salvation. Unlike Kristoffer Gildenlow, Valetzis has a busier style with more of a fusion influence. His busier style of bass playing is built more upon virtuosity than Gildenlow's primarily rythymnic style. Valetzis puts in a great performance adding to the uniqueness of this band.

Kostis Papaleksopoulos also adds to the rythymnic abilities of this band. Papaleksopoulos has an excellent ability to use his toms in creative fasions. His playing is very clean and direct. His bass drum technique is first class using a variety of patterns to fit tightly with the bass. The cymbals are hit at the perfect times, there isn't gratuitious cymbal noise throughout the album. A very very tight performance.

The production is excellent. The guitars are crisp and clean. There is more definition than distortion which is always pleasant in the production of metal albums. The bass is very present in the mix witha strong tone with an awful lot of punch, but at the same time very clean. The keyboards aren't very noticeable, I would have prefered a larger role in production. The drums are excellent, there is definition to the toms, and there is no background noise carrying on into the next beat. The vocals are clear and warm, but with such an excellent singer, poor vocal production would be almost impossible. Excellent proudction.

An excellent pickup for fans of Pain of Salvation and other experiemental metal bands that fuse togethor a variety of influences to make their music.