"Fall" is
Shakra's fifth studio album. The Swiss rockers have progressed with each album and "Fall" follows up the fantastic "Rising", which was the first album to introduce their new singer Mark Fox.
The keywords for
Shakra are melody combined with powerful guitars and
Take Me Now opens the album in typical
Shakra style.
Shakra's simple mid-tempo melodic Hard Rock becomes very powerful since
Shakra has a very direct approach to their songs with the guitars in focus.
The album has lots of great songs;
Chains Of Tempation is driven by a modern and emotional riff.
All or Nothing has a strong chorus.
She's My Ecstasy has a melodic riff that haunts me along with the chorus, which I almost sing in my sleep.
How It Feels is a breathtaking ballad, where Mark Fox shows his potential. He did a fantastic job on
Anything from "Rising" and once again he puts heart and soul into this song. The change between acoustic and electric guitar makes it a nice breather on a very electric album.
How it Feels is a great ballad with a solo that matches the heartfelt emotion of the song.
The album ends on a very strong note with 2 highlights. The album's best track is the raunchy
Do You Know with the best chorus on the disc. The steady beat driven by powerful guitars makes it impossible to sit still to this gem.
Immortal is the closing ballad with thoughtful lyrics.
Unfortunately "Fall" has a few standard tracks
; Make It Alright has a very melodic chorus - but it's a little easy and
Nightlife is too simple with a weak chorus.
Out of Control is probably the heaviest
Shakra track and it's quite good to spice the album, but
Shakra master the mid-tempo rockers better.
Personally I am a huge fan of
Shakra's straightforward style. "Fall" is a great album that definitely justifies lots of rotation on the CD player. Lead guitarist Thom Blunier is a heavy contributor to my
Shakra enthusiasm, since his solos are melodic and always fit the song.
Shakra has even experimented a little bit on
Walk On Water, which is a hard edge song that culminates in a heavy middle play that surprisingly goes directly into a beautiful calm melodic piece. Really clever and it works well since the song totally changes mood, before going up-tempo again -
Shakra sounds inspired by Led Zeppelin, who were masters of diversity in their songs.
Shakra do everything themselves from writing the songs to producing their albums. The production of "Fall" is a bit muddier than the monstrous production that characterized
Shakra on earlier albums. However, the crunchy guitar sound remains intact.
Overall "Fall" comes in right behind "Rising" and "Power ride", but it's still a solid CD from the Swiss rockers. For anyone who isn't familiar with
Shakra's powerful Hard rock I have re-written a quote from the press release that should describe everything about this band and "Fall";
Switzerland's Shakra is far from cheesy. When Shakra play their new songs from "Fall" the cows on the Swiss mountains shake so much that they give butter instead of milk.
THIS IS ROCK!
Written by
Michael Wednesday, October 5, 2005
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