Every now and then an album comes along that just makes you sit up and take notice. Before The Fall by Broken Empire is one such album!

A UK-based metal band, the line-up was finally completed in 2017 when singer Ieuan joined Matt (lead guitar/vocals), Marco (bass guitar/vocals) and Ricky (drums) and, a year in the making, Before The Fall is their debut album. And boy, what an album!

Self-released, the album kicks off with an air-raid siren, a warning, maybe, for the aural assault that the listener is about to be subjected to, and it is relentless from start to finish.

This album is everything a heavy metal album should be. Double kick drums and crunchy drumbeats, angst laden music, heavy, fast, slamming riffs and a healthy mix of clean vocals with screams and growls thrown in for good measure.

The vocals are emotive, Ieuan easily switching from clean singing to the metalcore growls and scream, and, musically, the band are phenomenal. The crunching riffs of the lead guitars work so well with the frantic drumming and the bass lines keep everything tight yet maintaining a certain amount of rawness to the music.

This is an infectious album that leaves you wanting to hear more, even before the album has finished. It had an instant impact on me, and they really can stand by their claim of “the hottest new metal band” as I whole heartedly agree with them!

Broken Empire have really set the bar for their brand of heavy metal high with this album, and I am looking forward to the next thing they release!

A true stomper of an album!

TRACK LISTING:

1. Prelude

2. Disguise

3. Before The Fall

4. Valediction

5. One Last Time

6. Insanity (Is Reality)

7. Praying For a Change

8. We Are Alive

9. Hollow Ground

10. Blame Me

11. AI End Protocol

12. The Reckoning

This review is purely the property of The Metal Asylum