Fallen Letters, the brainchild of Vishal Naidu and Aditya Ramesh, takes the best pages, the best influences from rock and progressive metal like Deftones, Opeth, and many more, and brings their own twist to their sound; embracing melancholy, exploring beyond the unknown is what they do. For the last year, they’ve been tireless at work, honing their craft– and it all culminates in “Forlorn Pages”, their latest 6-piece EP– keep reading for my thoughts!
“Forlorn Pages” opens with a brief 30-second passage aptly named “Prologue”, with sounds of fires burning, embers striking, and pages turning; setting the atmosphere brilliantly– and the main act starts with “For A While”– a wistful mellow, yet every bit as emotionally driven track, with a steady progression in energy. The lyrics, in the best of post-rock fashion, are laden with emotion, melancholic, evoking deep tides within the listener, as the melodic writing ties things up together seemingly effortlessly. Enter the metal screams, and the energy hits an all-time high; all this while, the guitars remain steady in the background, playing well with the vocals no matter the energy dynamic.
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Segueing into “Remain A Memory”, “Forlorn Pages” takes a more ominous, aggressive sound with the progression; the tension in the air is palpable, one’s eyebrows scrunching together as they follow the pulse of the track; and the progressive element of the EP begins to shine through, with spaced out, seemingly more relaxed passages. The vocal energy in this one serves to balance out the madness happening on the guitars, especially the solo; and is a refreshing departure from the first track.
“Relapse”, the next track, is poised, calm and collected in its outset; a bit of a slower number than the others on “Forlorn Pages”, this track makes great use of long, legato vocal lines to communicate effect; and the drumming courtesy of Mike Langford steps up to move things along, with the gentle, picked electric guitars in the background courtesy of Aditya; and the solo is magnificent, continuing the theme of relaxed, introspective melancholy– akin to a placid ocean with a hurricane brewing just off shore, just beyond the horizon; and it is, for lack of a better term, as close to perfection as can be.
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“Our Own Demise” is a soft tear-jerker with warm, welcoming acoustic guitars in the background that translate well into the mix, communicating the right amount of, metaphorically speaking, feeble-reaching-out; and as we bring “Forlorn Pages” to a close with the magnum opus of the album, “Beneath The Opaque Veil”– a haunting, ominous number that doesn’t take half it’s 6:50 runtime to have its full impact; it’s there, fair and square, from the start; and the track develops, we go into a proper death metal sound that still retains the subtle, poetic melancholy in its notes (Opeth, anybody?) There’s a great bit of experimentation going on with the drumming as well, with deep, layered writing and masterful, meticulous execution. Great close to “Forlorn Pages”!
Consider me floored– the production value from the bunch has only soared from height to height with the progression of their work, and on “Forlorn Pages”, it has the big-gig sound, in that there’s no aspect of this album that sounds amateur, or even halfheartedly experimental. The guitars step in and step out at the perfect times, the drumming is tight and clockwork-precise, with a laser-like focus on dynamics and balance. The masters remain beautifully consistent in tone throughout, each song forming one, if you’ll excuse this, forlorn page; yet, a book is what this is at the end of it– story, progression, emotion, and all– and a deeply impactful one at that. Easy two-thumbs-up recommendation! Check out the album here:
Check out Fallen Letters’ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fallenlettersband/?hl=en
Bandcamp: https://fallenletters.bandcamp.com/album/forlorn-pages
Beneath The Opaque Veil music video:
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