'Volvere' translates to "to roll" in English if I'm right. With this, Fall Of The Leafe's (FotL from now on) fourth album, it could mean a thing or two. Old FotL was Nordic dark metal and with the previous one, 'Fermina' (2002), more pop/rock elements were introduced and growled vocals dropped almost completely.

Here the band continue to hone their rather unique style in vein of 'Fermina'. FotL might be harder and bolder than many a brutal metal band, since mixing metal with pop music really requires some balls. Think about that, then! The mixture includes something like this stuff: Nordic metal in vein of mid-period Amorphis and In Flames, prog elements (especially on 'Cut the Smoke'), pop and goth music influences and some synth lines like straight off of some "Synthesizer Greatest" compilation (just check out 'More Like a Situation' and you'll get it). Not forgetting, that mixing all these also require some brain power to make it work and FotL sound like they do it without sweat. But unlike pop music, FotL's songs do not go where one would think they'd go. There's a lot of surprises, believe me, and this lengthens the album's lifespan. But as the 'Fermina' was a bigger step for the band, some times this sounds very similar ('Big Ol' Fat Rain Inside', while being a good song, just sounds too 'Fermina'). I don't like 'Song from the Second Floor's aggro-riffing, but calmer part just blew me away. From 'Big Ol' Fat Rain Inside' to 'Guilt Threat' I felt it wasn't as smashing as the majority of the music here, but when listening to them songs individually, they showed their potential.

'Volvere' is very well performed, without any "rockstar attitude" shining through. Well not much, not inconveniently. Familiar guitar melodies are great, with some fantastic twin guitar ones. Guitars also shriek a lot, which I enjoy enormously. Riffing can be heavy as fuck when needed. 'More Like a Situation' is a prime example of this; jolly acoustic guitars suddenly explode into distorted ear-ripping ones. Drums are loud again, especially kick drums! That's not a drawback, mind you. I like those some nice beats, that aren't heard on too many a metal album. Bass is everywhere and really played, not just plucked. It's as important an instrument as any here. Mr Tuominen's vocals are very atypical in metal music. He sings with an individual clean voice, having a weird accent. I can't think of a vocalist with a similar voice. I guess this kind of voices are easier to find in rock or pop music, if anywhere. He does some gruff stuff at times, though, but he growls no more. Lyrics are, again, only partly printed and some texts aren't even sung. Never easy to understand, lyrical themes are, well, what they are! 'A Waiting Room Snap' is about spending some quality time in a dentist's waiting room. Well, definitely different in metal music. But so is the band and their craft.

It took a few spins and I was hooked. All the FotL albums evolved from the previous one a lot, but this time the band have sticked to similar receipt than last time. They found their own sound with 'Fermina' so why jump into an unknown again? And bettered it, even though 'Fermina' has its own great times. A bold album, really "sticking to your own guns" style fucker! You won't hear this kind of stuff anywhere else, so check out ASAP, if you want to hear metal with non-metal influences. Yeah, this is nothing like Theatre Of Tragedy's two last ones for sure.

Rating: 8 (out of 10) ratings explained

Reviewed by Lane
06/12/2004 12:50