DOPPELGÄNGER

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.

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