DOPPELGÄNGER

Well, I got turned onto these guys by my friend who is a total emo screamo psycho fan. I thought: What in god's name are these guys doing on the archives? So I gave them a listen. BOY. I was amazed. These guys are so fresh, they sound like they're taking elements from Protest The Hero, The Mars Volta and Fall of Troy. Seriously! Theyre that good!

I Just Got This Symphony Goin' sounds amazing from start to finish. The opening guitar lines amaze me. Seriously, Thomas Erak's playing I can only vaguely relate to Omar Rodriguez-Lopez. His style is so unorthodox and frightening. If these guys ever come to town i'm in. (10/10)

Act One, Scene One, doesn't start out as awesome as the latter, but the drumming was so progressive, it hurt my brain. This is a decent song, but doesn't really put me in the mood to listen to the rest of the record for some reason. Not the best, but still okay. (8/10)

FCPREMIX, starts out so outlandish and progressive, IT HURTS. This song is flawless from start to finish. It has a very interesting instrumental section. It just really proves that these guys aren't accidentaly progressive. They are prog to the max. (10/10)

You Got a Death Wish Johnny Truant has an amazing guitar line, but after that the song rolls downhill. (6/10)

Mouth Like Sidewinder Missiles. Wow. Amazing title, makes me think of the scene in Godzilla when the helicopters are chasing him through the city. The song really gets intricate in the first verse and basically through the whole thing. I'm beginning to relate the drummer to Phil Collins, mainly because of his unorthodox style of playing. The instrumental at the end is very compelling. Great song. (9/10)

The Hol[]y Tape sounds very annoying at first, but then gets into this intricate instrumental, which then becomes, this relaxing, Genesis/Yes ish little soft music break. A nice break. (9/10)

Laces Out, Dan! Features some of the best song structures in the entire record. Also some of the best singing. The lyrics are very interesting too: Someone here is not right. Very cool. (9/10)

We Better Learn To Hotwire a Uterus. Holy crap, what an awesome song title. If only the song was as good. I'm giving it a seven for a ridiculous mid song instrumental. (7/10)

Whacko Jacko Steals The Elephant Man's Bones. The song that brought me here! How interesting. The song starts off ridiculously odd timed. I can't even count what time they're in, I just now the song is awesome. Then it goes off into a ridiculous instrumental. Just when you think the song is over, you check the timer and see there is two more minutes of awesome left. This song is ridiculous. RIDICULOUS I SAY. Best song on the record. (10/10)

Tom Waits...what...Jesus H Christ. This song is like Dance of Eternity. Insane times signatures and a ridiculous need to wank musically. EXCEPT, it impresses and doesn't bore. I like the party aspect of the song and the vocals are really sweet. AWESOME GUITAR SOLO! Awesome! (9/10)

Macaulay Culkin! An 8 minute monster! Coming from these guys, that means only good things. Wow, this is actually straight ahead for these guys. This is pretty wicked so far, I absolutely love it. This song is unprecedented levels of Epic. It goes into a slow section towards the middle which then becomes this very avant guarde ending. Very cool! (9/10)

I can safely say these guys are NOT just a screamo band. These guys are pure, amazing, relentless prog. The MOST underrated band ON THIS SITE. Check them out now. 4 stars.

This was my introduction to this band, and I had to pick my jaw up off the floor several times when listening to it. The Fall of Troy really made a huge jump from their debut release to this. The songwriting is significantly more mature, the production quality has been significantly improved, especially on the songs that were remastered from the band's debut, and the songs all have a much-need boost in power and energy to them. Guitarist and lead vocalist Thomas Erak's vocals go from normal singing to a few really off-the-wall post-hardcore shouts and screams. I think his voice is much more powerful on this album, but at the same time more restrained. In fact, that's an element of the music that really shows here. Unlike their debut, The Fall of Troy really does tune it done occasionally tempo-wise, as we do get a fair amount of slower sections, many of which may be subjected to acoustics and noise in the vein of early The Mars Volta albums (De-loused and Frances come to mind more than once). Despite the maturity of this release, technicality and polyrhythms galore are still a major factor in this music. But the technicality feels like it has much more of a purpose here. The band isn't just playing fast riffs for the sake of playing fast.

I've been flipping over in my mind whether I should give this 4 or 5 stars and I seem to change my mind about it almost constantly. But in the end, I really have no complaints about it, which means I can happily give it a 5 star rating. Fans of The Mars Volta or modern heavy prog owe it to themselves to check The Fall of Troy out.

Looking for new music, I was recommended Doppelganger by a friend. So I picked it up, and was immediately glad I did so. This album is extremely enjoyable, full of twitchy riffs, sudden breaks and time changes. It's ear candy if you're looking for a heavy modern album with bare instrumentation.

However, this album has perhaps permanently scared me off of the rest of the band's catalog. The reason being is that the band doesn't seem to be able to keep the ideas interesting for the entire album. Or perhaps a better way to put it is that the arrangements are constantly interesting and devious, but the instrumentation is uninspired in places. After a few listens, I realized that the band pulls every trick out of the hat by about halfway through the album, and merely reworks them in different ways for the rest of the songs. After listening to the cool riff during the verses in "F.C.P.R.E.M.I.X." I realized that it was the exact same riff in "Laces Out, Dan!" and then again, slightly changed and subtly worked into "We Better Learn to Hotwire a Uterus". The same goes for a lot of the other interesting riffs on Doppelganger, which was an unhappy surprise for me.

Given time, the album as a whole grew on me. I hesitantly recommend it to adventurous proggers looking for a fun listen, although don't say I didn't warn you if you feel slightly cheated.

It's easy to miss The Fall of Troy in the steady stream of metalesque prog-outfits out there. When discussing music with fellow metal-lovers I'm surprised to find that a rather few of them have heard this treat of a band. Well, I say band, but to me they are pretty much this album. Where all the other albums have been sketchy and sometimes downright mediocre, this one hits the mark in all the right places.

The music on Doppelgänger(and of TFoT) can be described as something like Mars Volta on amphetamine. It's wild, it's intense and sometimes almost atonal. Thomas Erak's guitar work is very imaginative and fun to listen to; this coming from a guy who generally dislike guitar driven music. He plucks, strums and sweeps his way through the songs at a breakneck tempo, but unlike other guitar players of his extremely high standard, the songs never suffer from that fact, never torturing you with endless screeching solos that make your ears bleed.Everything on Doppelgänger has a place and a purpose.

The level of musicianship on the album is superb, with the bass actually taking a very prominent role in the mixing. The band being a trio does a lot for the overall sound and feel of the music; keeping the music from becoming to ecstatic, grounding the sound a bit.

Production is also something that must be mentioned, high lighted and elevated on this album. In an age of polish upon polish upon polish it's so great to hear production that keep the edges in the sound picture. Where their other albums focused on a more bland, main streamed production, Doppelgänger stands out as rough and gritty, something that helps the music a ton, as the open feel of the mixing gives the very hysteric songs room to breathe.

What makes me want to recommend this album, unlike their other works, is that I think that this release actually has some kind of musical relevance in this age. TFoT stand out from the masses with their rather unusual mix of hardcore, metal and rock. The mix in itself has been done, quite often by now, but the way it all comes together for Doppelgänger is amazing.

There's something in here for everyone and it deserves its spot in any serious record collection!

4,5/5

This is just a great math metal/rock album.

This being their second, and way better than their first, this album saw the band propell in to a new level of craziness.

With a crazy instrumenta section, werid lyrics and even funnier song titles, this album had me hooked from start to finish.

I did criticise these guys when I first heard them, but I regret doing so now.

They are a wee bit emo, with the slightly whiney vocals, but it's more of a matter of opinion, cause these guys were out when emo was only being birthed as a concept.

1. I Just Got This Symphony Goin - Amazing intro. One fantastic song. The vocals are amazing. Just kick ass, straight in your face. 10/10

2. Act 1, Scene 1 - Great chorus and arrangement of vocals. Instrumental sections are flawless, as usual. the lyrics are also hilarious. 9/10

3. F.C.P.R.E.M.I.X. - One of their best chorus'. Just a fantastic song. 10/10

4. "You Got A Death Wish, Johnny Truant?" - Crazy as hell, but it flows perfectly.9/10

5. Mouths Like A Sidewinder Missile - Love the screams at the start. Great chorus. The instrumental section really shows how tight this band was. 9/10

6. The Hol[ ]y Tape - Pretty freaky. A hel'lot of influences in one song. 8/10

7. Laces Out, Dan - Thomas' vocals in this song are just mental. The music is also very derranged. 8/10

8. We Better Learn How To Hotwire A Uterus - Love the title. The lyrics are also very funny. The instrumental section is crackers. 10/10

9. Whacko Jacko Steals The Elephant Man's Bones - The lyrics have nothing to do with the title. Still a pretty kick ass and mental song. The instrumental is pretty freaky. The vocals really are incredible. 9/10

10. Tom Waits - The noisy parts are pretty cool. Again the vocals are amazing. 9/10

11. Macaulay McCulkin - Again the title is hilarious (that's not even how you spell his name, even though Michael did call him Mac, because of Mike's anniversary they repeated his home video's show, which was pretty funny...woops back to the music).The instrumental section is pretty funny, sounds a wee bit like the Pink Panther. Quite experimental and very cool. 9/10

CONCLUSION: This was a really enjoyable listening experience, and I recomend this album to everyone, even you Jesus!

Fall of Troy's Doppelganger is that rare erruption of savage creativity and energy that makes the listener's brain shatter with its awesomeness-- then proceeds to beat the staggered listener into oblivion with a non-stop assault of sound.

While it would be unfair to say that Fall of Troy is a Mars Volta clone... the inspiration is very, very clear. Fast, catchy, ambitious rhythms with frenzied guitar creativity abound through Doppleganger, and the virtuosity displayed by these three musicians is genuinely impressive. It's amazing how many sounds they cram into these short tunes, the first half alone giving us a first rate combination of trash, hardcore, atmospheric, melodic, and poly- rythmic coolness. Bass and drum work is first rate. Erak's vocals are almost as busy as his guitar playing, as he changes between his clean, high-timbre singing voice and intense screams constantly. The listener should be prepared for lots of screaming, very much out of the modern hardcore movement-- which I generally dislike; however, there is a genuine fun to his melodic choruses and screams which I think elevates above the emo-crowd considerably. Still... be prepared for screaming.

Songwriting is generally good, though I do feel like Doppleganger is still showing the band in their adolescence. It feels like the group is exploring their potential, and the quality in songs declines in the last third or so of the album, where Erak's vocals get a bit excessive. Also, there's the huge shadow of Mars Volta sound looming over this entire album, which certainly doesn't detract from its enjoyment, but shows that the group is wearing its influences on their sleeve.

Bottom line-- much of Doppleganer is crazy awesome. The band's musicianship is amazing, as is their energy and intensity; there is a lot going here, especially given the band's youth at the time. Highly recommended to fans seeking something a little hardcore to smash away the quite for an enjoyable 40 minutes. "Heavy prog" is almost a misnomer here. I look forward to seeing where this group goes next!

Songwriting: 3 Instrumental Performances: 5 Lyrics/Vocals: 3 Style/Emotion/Replay: 5

A very good album, especialy for those looking for something original. The sound is very raw tight and heavy, the style a Punk/Hardcore/Metal mix, with a constant shifting between diffrent tempos. Could be described as a fussion between The Mars Volta and At the Drive in, but without most of the Volta psychedelics. The vocals may not be as good as Cedric Bixler-Zavala, but they are very varried from extreeme high pitch screming, to growl, to melodic singing. The guitar playing amasing, and very varried too. Fresh and very recomandable. A nice kick in the balls.

The highlight comes at the end - 8+ min. "Macaulay McCulkin", a great trip on its own.

Progressive heavy-metal punk - at the 4 star level.