Yes, we love the big bands with their polished productions, lavish extravagances and their shiny press kits. But we also love those bands who still have dirt under their nails and who are still raising the flag for Metal under the DIY banner. The type of band who slog around the country for no reward but continue for the love of what they do. Fall To Ruin, by Bristol-based Die Tonight, arrived a few weeks ago and is set for release on 14 February.
Die Tonight – Fall To Ruin
Release Date: 14 February 2025
Words: Paul Hutchings
Formed by members of Sudden Death (Italy), Wintersoul (Brazil), and Entropic Rot (UK), Die Tonight border the extremes with Fall To Ruin, delivering eight tracks that twist across the genres.
It is evident from the opening bars of opener Come And See that this band’s roots sit in the Progressive Death Metal camp, with chopping chords and riffs, explosive fret runs and a roving bass that refuses to simply toe the party line.
However, the savageness of the singing gives it a real extreme edge. A punishing opener and not one to sit comfortably at ease with. Instead, it’s a real dichotomy of styles in those first four minutes, and it’s swiftly changed by the switch to clean vocals on Land Of Panic, which follows.
The interplay between the clean and gruff style is not anything new and often grates with me when overdone. However, Die Tonight initially use it conservatively, and that allows the choppy riffage to take the lead.
Describing the band’s music is quite the challenge. There are plenty of styles here that all burst out and then step back. Kelsamara, for example, sees intricate progressive patterns flip flop with aggressive Death Metal riffs and a combination of cleans and growls.
This leads to the album’s central focus, the 7:44 long title track which rips along in a Thrash style underpinned by plenty of melody. Combined with more contrasting cleans and gravel-throated roars, it is not quite achieving what I think was intended, but it is not too far away from being a winding epic piece.
At times, it’s a little too repetitive, and personally, I think it would benefit from a couple of changes in direction. But there is much promise here.
They do the right thing with the delicate Psalm, a one-minute acoustic piece that harks back to the days of Masters Of Reality, providing a calming moment to reflect before the tempo rises once more.
Plenty of energy throughout, with themes of death, religion and hope, the emotion contained in the likes of the highly powered Morningstar are evident. It is here that the clean vocals dominate, and it is here that I also find the constant mix of growls and cleans a little challenging. It’s just a bit too generic.
That’s not a word that can be levelled at the final track, the ten-minute The Hard Way. A smouldering finish which builds slowly into a traditional Metal rocker, it highlights the band’s strengths and weaknesses in one song. The vocals are not at their strongest, but the musicianship is robust and on point.
There’s plenty of work to do, but Die Tonight demonstrate the desire and talent to push forward. You can find out more about the band here.
