War Lullaby – We Fall
War Lullaby – We Fall – Album Review
Thirteen tracks…not even a total of fourteen minutes in length…to be honest, there’s a very good chance it’ll take you longer to read this review than it would take you to listen to War Lullaby’s We Fall.
Ahhh Grindcore. You gotta love it, right? Or…I mean…just don’t get caught loving it cause they’d hate that. The majority of Grindcore bands pride themselves on being about as sonically repellant to the mainstream masses as music could ever be. I remember when I was recording a demo for a band based out of British Columbia called Pest Synapse…one of my first experiences with the genre to be truthful – and I don’t think I’ve ever felt so fucking old in my entire life. I might joke about being older than dirt here on our pages all the time, but don’t believe me, that’s just bullshit. I mean, I’m old, but I’m not that old…but trust me when I tell ya, it’s the whole Grindcore genre that makes me feel out of touch with the ol’ kids of today if this is what people are listening to. I listen to some seriously tough shit in the world of independent music – and I’ve practically listened to everything under the sun that most people would consider to be challenging in the mainstream too…but there’s nothing like the way Grindcore tests you.
War Lullaby takes things even beyond what you know about the genre into even further extremes. As you click “Double Agent” and the yelling, screaming, and punishing sound comes for your throat within mere seconds, you’ll get what I mean quickly enough. It’s as if a metric shit ton of music dropped straight from the sky like an anvil on a cartoon coyote, and we’re left to deal with the mess. “Double Agent” is the longest track on We Fall, topping out at a solid 1:26 of furious mayhem & audible menace. As far as first impressions go…chances are they’ll break the average listener within about half the length.
It’s got all the classic ingredients though, no doubt about that. “Gilgamesh” has the growls, the grinding riffs from the guitar, and the relentless pounding of drums. That’s it. That’s all you need in Grindcore. Anything more than that, you’d have to basically be categorized as something else. “Gilgamesh” is forty-eight seconds long, is filled wall-to-wall with scathing sound, and has forced all my animals from the safety of my home…I may never see my dog or cat again, and I’ve still got another eleven tracks to go. War Lullaby is pulling no punches in their quest to create a record that will punish your ears for listening.
I listen to a track like “Disease” and kind of chuckle about how our parents and grandparents feared Punk Rock. Like…they’d never be able to fucking handle something like War Lullaby or anything within the Grindcore section…they’d curl up in ball, and just fucking die on the spot. Me? I’ll listen to anything. Doesn’t always mean I’ve gonna like or love what I’m listening to, but I give everything a shot. As a melody guy, it’s practically impossible for me to dig on much of what ‘traditional’ Grindcore music would have to offer…given that it’s basically the antithesis of melody. What gets me as I listen to a track like “Disease” is that, why have your songs tagged as explicit when no one can actually decipher a fucking word of what’s being yelled & scream into the microphone? Test the theory out War Lullaby – you could make an entire song out of the names of Disney characters and it’d still sound like we’re in the middle of battle…no one on Earth would be able to catch on, and it would be righteously fucking badass.
“Giants Plummet” is a great example of what this kind of music is like to experience. For a BRIEF moment…I am obviously talking about mere seconds in a song that is only 1:04 long…but for a BRIEF moment in time at the very beginning, I think to myself – ‘FUCK YES, I might actually dig this one!’ And then the chaos ensues and we’re right back to where we were in the wall-of-sound that is Grindcore. It’s like they’re making music to work out with, you feel me? Everyone comes in, pumps as much iron as they can by playing their instruments as hard as they can, and then within a minute, they’re spent & it’s time to skip the rest of leg day. “Giants Plummet” is a brutalizing experience in sound, without a doubt.
“Grind 2 Death” was actually pretty interesting to me. The genre itself is usually very thinned out in the mix…treble up, not a whole lot of low-end, no bass…that kind of thing. “Grind 2 Death” actually ends up going for an even thinner than the already thin sound…it starts out beefy, but eventually dials back to what’s damn near just a beat-led moment on We Fall. So if you like screaming, and you like drums, this here Bud’s for you partner. Ultimately I’d probably tell ya that it’s actually one of the better tracks on the record for the sheer fact it’s got about 10% more clarity than the majority of the set. Don’t tell’em I said that though, otherwise they’ll get back in there and fill any other space they can with more sound.
So at this point, guaranteed that if you pushed play on We Fall when you started reading this review, it’s probably already finished by the time you read these comments on “Hate.” I actually don’t “Hate” this track at all…the drums are fucking pure energy…the guitar tones are fucking killer…it’s like listening to the death of an amplifier sputtering out with the last sounds you’ll hear from it before it implodes. As for the vocals and whatnot…I ain’t gonna lie to ya, I have no real clue what separates good Grindcore music from great Grindcore music. Grindcore is Grindcore is Grindcore as far as I can personally tell, but like I told ya earlier on, I’m old – so who fucking cares what I think about anything anyhow? “Hate” ain’t all that bad though…but there’s a good chance by track six I’ve lost all sense of my normal perception.
I might be old. Maybe I am, maybe I’m not. What’s valid commentary on the genre overall is that it does need more separation than it has from track to track. Like, if you were to tell me that “Serious Toys” was THE track of all tracks on We Fall, my first question would be why ain’t it any of the rest of the set instead? It’s not that there isn’t that much of a difference between each track – I get it, there IS – but to the average set of ears listening? HELL NO – there ain’t gonna be enough for them to understand if they like “Serious Toys” any better than any other song, or even remember cuts that are only a minute in length by name. So you kind of have to conclude that dudes that make Grindcore music are really their own biggest audience in a way. But for those of you that dig noise, turn it the fuck up I say, your neighbors probably won’t exactly thank you for it, but if you’re lucky enough, they’ll fucking move away.
On the subject of lyricism and whatnot though, I stand by what I said earlier on about being able to substitute the names of Disney characters, and how no one would know. I listen to a track like “Soul Pollution” and think to myself, the writer…like…goddamn – don’t you want what you’ve written to be heard in some capacity? It’s hard to imagine that all that much effort is being put in. Yet, there I was, years ago recording the Pest Synapse demo, and witnessing exactly that – EFFORT was still being put in, despite the fact there wasn’t an audible word to be found in any damn tune. I’d imagine it’s the same case with War Lullaby. I grew up listening to the Jesus Lizard and that shit sounds like a librarian reading a story in a quiet room now compared to what you’ll experience in listening to We Fall by War Lullaby. “Soul Pollution” has got all the Grindcore ingredients though…so…there’s that. You can check that box.
THIRTY-NINE SECONDS OF FACE-MELTING SOUND ENSUES WITH “Money” RIGHT AFTERWARDS. I FIGURED I’D GO WITH BIG BOLD LETTERS TO REPRESENT THE IN-YOUR-FACENESS OF IT ALL, BECAUSE WHY THE FUCK NOT? TO THEIR CREDIT, THIS SONG SOUNDS LIKE HOW I FEEL ABOUT ECONOMICS.
It’s weird when you listen to a record like this and the ads from Spotify kick in. I mean…I don’t want to say an ad is ever going to be a pleasant experience, but it IS a break from the relentless onslaught of sound that War Lullaby has been creating and trying to kill us with. I had a moment to catch my breath and try to remember what day of the week it was, who the president is & such…you know, the standard questions they ask you after a concussion. Then “(T)error” kicked back in, and back down the spiral I go. I can only imagine how many different kinds of reactions that people give the Grindcore crowd & the music they make…it’s gotta be something else to experience. On the BRIGHTEST of sides, like I always tell ya, the last thing you want is pure indifference…and you’ll never get that in this genre, ever. People will always have opinions on what they hear in a song like “(T)error” or indeed, this album – and that’s ultimately a good thing no matter what they say. No one is going to listen to We Fall & just say nothing.
There you go! Replace Grindcore with “Torture Art” instead – ain’t that what this is fundamentally? I don’t even mean any disrespect to War Lullaby or bands like’em…I’m being honest & straightforward here. Isn’t “Torture Art” the goal? Isn’t that what you’re aiming to create? Isn’t that what it expresses? Back to that point about Disney characters…there is an element of “Torture Art” that actually sounds a bit like it’s being screamed by Donald Duck…and that might be something to consider. At the very least, perhaps Gollum on the lead vocals. So…yeah…not entirely sure if that’s the sound you wanna go for folks…War Lullaby might be making a more metaphorical statement here than perhaps we can realize.
The drums of “Naked Punch” are actually no fucking joke y’all…that shit is as fast and furious as it gets, and I’ve got some love for that. The rest sounds like the trainwreck it’s intended to be, but at the core of this cut is a reliable sense of timing that can’t really be denied either. So there you go! I’m at track twelve, and I’m gonna say that…yes…I’m pretty close to digging on “Naked Punch.” I don’t want them to drop the balloons in celebration yet, we’ve still got one track to go & all, but yeah…there are indeed some positives to be found here and some intense musicianship that actually can’t be disputed too. It ain’t ever gonna be music for your momma (but if it is, please have her call me) – but there’s no doubt about the fact that War Lullaby has created a consistency in their punishing sound that lasts all nearly fourteen minutes on We Fall. Someone is bound to appreciate that level of dedication to chaos for sure.
Giving you hardcore Grindcore fans one more dose of exactly what you want & what you deserve, “Sin And Punishment” ends War Lullaby’s latest record – which is actually their third of 2022 according to what I can see online, following the releases of their self-titled EP, and Bullet Hell in between. It’s an intense style of music to say the least…not for the faint of heart…and quite likely too much for the vast majority of ya to handle. That being said…they clearly love what they do – I don’t think anyone out there that doesn’t would make three records in a year…so don’t get it twisted, just because it might not be your jam, or most of our jams, doesn’t mean there’s not an audience for what War Lullaby creates, or passion behind the band itself. I never expect to ‘get’ everything I listen to that comes my way – I’d be a fool to think I would – all I can do is call things like I hear’em, be honest about what I’m listening, and describe what the experience was like to go through. Listening to something like War Lullaby, at the end of the day, still enriches my life, still broadens the horizons of what I’ve heard in this lifetime, and despite the fact I’ll probably never remember any one of these song titles by name…they’ve created an experience I’m never gonna forget. I’ll always remember THEIR name as a result of everything I’ve heard throughout We Fall, and the value of identity like that in this music business we’re in, is priceless.
Feeling brave? Listen to more music by War Lullaby at Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/30ezost9VSWk5r01PQWhYK
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