Shadows Fall Seeking The Way: The Greatest Hits CD

Shadows Fall: David Germain, Derek Kirswell, Brian Fair , Matthew Bachand, Jonathan Donais, Paul Romanko, Jason Bittner.
By the time SEEKING THE WAY: THE GREATEST HITS was released, Shadows Fall had honed its brand of metal over the course of its five studio albums (not to mention quite a bit of touring). Although Shadows Fall are influenced by thrash, hardcore, and death metal, the band is most devoted to old-school metal sensibilities, and SEEKING THE WAY is a great overview of their hard-hitting mixture. With their twin guitar leads and snatches of melody, tracks like "Of One Blood" and "Thoughts Without Words" recall Judas Priest and Iron Maiden. But Shadows Fall are no mere retro act; in fact it's their ability to fuse the old with the new that makes this well-selected compilation so satisfying.
Certainly one of the hardest hitting yet technical metal bands to hail from the U.S. during the early 21st century was Shadows Fall. On the strength of such releases as The War Within and a pair of appearances on Ozzfest, Shadows Fall have certainly left their mark, and their best tracks are showcased on the 2007 compilation, Seeking the Way: The Greatest Hits. However, while most of their standouts are included here, it's not an entirely definitive career overview, as no tracks from their first album are included (1998's Somber Eyes to the Sky, which is best known as the lone Shadows Fall album not to feature singer Brian Fair), nor obviously anything from the albums that came after this set. But still, Seeking the Way serves as a fine introduction to the group, especially on such Shadows Fall classics as "Crushing Belial," "What Drives the Weak," and "Inspiration on Demand," among others. Quite a few metal bands from this era had to rely on gimmicks to grab the attention of the metal masses. As evidenced by the mighty metal throughout Seeking the Way, Shadows Fall succeeded entirely in letting the music do the talking. ~ Greg Prato