What Is The Futrue of Shadows Fall?

"We haven't been dropped from Atlantic Records!"

Ever since the release of 2007's "Threads of Life", the major-label debut of Shadows Fall, one of the modern "Big 4" of the metal movement, rumors have spread that Shadows Fall was dropped from Atlantic Records. This was spurred by both poor reviews of the album and the fact that, since it's April 2007 release, it has sold only 100,000 copies! Compare that to 2004's "The War Within" on Century Media, which has sold over 300,000 to date and... well, it's safe to say that "Threads of Life" was a commercial flop.

I wrote a review about 6 months after it came out since I wanted to have a more objective review since... well, it's always a bad sign when you don't want to review something as soon as you get it, isn't it?

The album cover looks just about as rushed as the album sounds, like Atlantic Records demanded them to write the album as fast as possible and release it quickly to cash in on their fame. This isn't a new practice in the music world, of course, and Anthrax's "State of Euphoria" from 1988 is a testament of what happens when a great band is rushed to release an album. Scott Ian has even disowned it.

Since then, Shadows Fall went on a tour in 2007, but was mostly quiet for most of 2008, with no real notable tour I can recall. The name is starting to fade from the lips of the metal community, and as a fan of the band, I'm stuck asking... "Where are they headed to now?"

Despite what the band calls a "rumor", Roadrunner Records Europe HAS dropped Shadows Fall, and because of how poorly the album is doing, their relationship with Atlantic Records is on shaky ground. No offense meant to the band (I've met them and they're good folks), but it's a PR statement in order to keep the faithful happy. A major record label doesn't shell out a ton of cash to have a band not do well. This album got great promotion, so it's safe to say that the next one is going to have to slay, or we're going to be stuck with 5 "live albums".

Shadows Fall are playing a free show tonight and are releasing a new album this year.