Review by Jack Arkell

This EP almost never was. After numerous member losses, the future looked anything but rosy for Fall Against Fate. With ‘If Not For Ourselves’ though, the Hertfordshire band have managed to overcome more adversity than most sob-story possessing X Factor applicants to cement their place in the Technical Metal genre once again.

There are punishing bass lines, industrious guitar work and thundering drumming aplenty spread out over this second release from the band, with vocals that rival any of the so-called ‘bigger’ artists of the genre.

‘Inauguration’ is a well judged forty second instrumental that provides the calm before the storm, with ‘All the World’s a Stage’ wasting no time in setting the bar for the rest of the EP. ‘Galleon’ is just a pure outpouring of pugnacity, while ‘Le Corps’ follows in the same vain, only even louder somehow. As well as having the best song title on ‘If Not For Ourselves’, ‘I Hate Godzilla, He Destroys Cities’ provides another marvellously heavy listening experience, as the five-piece keep the pedal firmly to the metal in more ways than one.

The shameless use of big choruses only serves to convey the band’s message even further, redefining a stale genre without sounding poppy at all. Standout track ‘Waters of Asteria’ exemplifies this, before the closing bars of ‘So Real’ lead back to the opening track, the calm instrumentals book-ending the band’s wonderfully ferocious work. Have no doubts, Fall Against Fate have returned, and have came back swinging with this excellent studio effort.