Shadows Fall
Shadows Fall is an American metal band from Boston, Massachusetts, formed in 1996. Although Shadows Fall has experienced several line-up changes, for most of its recording career, Shadows Fall has been composed of Jon Donais (lead guitar, backing vocals), Matt Bachand (rhythm guitar, clean vocals), Paul Romanko (bass), Brian Fair (lead vocals), and Jason Bittner (drums).
This article is about an American metal band. For the book Shadows Fall, see Simon R. Green.
Shadows Fall
Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
- Metalcore
- thrash metal
- melodic death metal (early)
- 1996–2015
- 2021–present
- Century Media
- Atlantic
- Roadrunner
- Everblack
- Ferret
- Spinefarm
- Razor & Tie
- Genet
- Jon Donais
- Matt Bachand
- Paul Romanko
- Brian Fair
- Jason Bittner
- David Germain
- Damien McPherson
- Mark Laliberte
- Philip Labonte
Shadows Fall has released seven studio albums, two compilation albums, and two DVDs. The band's first album featured Philip Labonte (of All That Remains) on lead vocals; but, he was soon replaced by Fair. Shadows Fall's first two studio albums featured David Germain playing drums; however, in 2002, Bittner joined the band full-time. In February 2008, the band was a Grammy Award nominee in the category Best Metal Performance for the song "Redemption" off the album Threads of Life. Their most recent studio album, Fire From the Sky, was released on May 15, 2012 and was the first to be produced by Adam Dutkiewicz since the band's first studio release.
Shadows Fall announced in August 2014 that they were going to go on an indefinite hiatus, and by the following summer, they had wrapped up what was planned to be their farewell tour.[1][2] The band reunited for its first show in six years in December 2021 in their native Massachusetts,[3] and they have discussed the possibility of recording new material.[4]
History[edit]
Formation and Somber Eyes to the Sky (1996–1997)[edit]
Shadows Fall was formed in 1996 by guitarists Jonathan Donais and Matt Bachand, then good friends from the local music scene.[5] Bachand had previously been a founding member of a death metal band and Donais a member of the metalcore band Aftershock. Later on the band had found a complete lineup with the addition of Damien McPherson (vocals), Mark Laliberte (bass), and David Germain (drums). Also in 1996, Adam Dutkiewicz performed live drums to fill in for Germain.[6] By late 1996, the band recorded and released a demo titled Mourning a Dead World, of which only about 200 copies were produced.[5] It consisted of the songs Lifeless, Suffer the Season, Fleshold, Forever Lost, A Souls Salvation, and Deadworld. McPherson decided to leave the band, and was replaced by Philip Labonte in 1997. Around the same time, bass guitarist Paul Romanko, formally of the hardcore band Pushbutton Warfare, was recruited as a permanent replacement for Laliberte, who had originally joined on a temporary basis.[5][7] Now with a more solid lineup, the band released its first EP, To Ashes, with Dutkiewicz playing as a session drummer. The band's name, according to Bachand, comes from the title of a comic book published in the early 1990s.[8]
Shadows Fall toured the New England area opening for artists such as Fear Factory and Cannibal Corpse.[9] On November 30, 1997 the band released its first studio album Somber Eyes to the Sky, through Bachand's recording label, Lifeless Records.[10]
Musical style[edit]
Shadows Fall has been mainly described as metalcore,[43][44] death metal[45] and thrash metal.[46][47][48]
Tom Murphy of Westword opines that "Shadows Fall began as a melodic death-metal band with some roots in hardcore". Murphy notes that on the 2002 album The Art of Balance, the band started to incorporate thrash metal into their sound.[49]