EP Review: Fallen Earth by Groom Lake (Self Released)

Following on from the success of singles No Relief, Titan’s Teeth and Unearthed, UK metalcore band Groom Lake are due to release their debut EP Fallen Earth on June 26th.

Groom Lake announced themselves on the scene with their 2019 single release, No Relief. It gained them instant traction and positive press resulting in an incendiary, sold out, debut live performance in Ipswich that same year. They followed that up with a UK tour in February this year, just getting it in on time before the world took another step closer to hell. Follow up singles, Titan’s Teeth and Unearthed carried on their win steak both totting up high stream numbers and featuring on multiple editorial playlists across the industry.

Named after the official title of the US’ Area 51 site, Groom Lake have a solid foundation to build upon now. For fans of Architects, Northlane and While She Sleeps, Groom Lake offer their own take on the genre with a recognisable but slightly more expansive sound.

Fallen Earth was recorded at Bandit Studios with producer Jonny Renshaw (Devil Sold His Soul, Blood Youth, Dream State).

Groom Lake are a five piece with Will Mortimer on vocals, Ciaran Burgess on guitars and vocals, Ben Cable on guitars, Josh Cable on bass and Alex Hill on drums.

Fallen Earth is 7 tracks long and includes all three of the previously released singles. First up is Titan’s Teeth which comes at you with force straight from the off. A punchy riff, backing atmospherics and passionately roared vocals sweep you up. It’s an exciting song with plenty going on – moments of faded and echoed vocals, the backing atmospherics are perfectly suited to the song, melodic lead guitar lines – it all keeps the song feeling fresh and invigorating consistently. The chorus switches to clean singing, as expected, and is catchy enough coming with a crescendo of emotive music. It is a very strong opener and that strength continues to shine as we move forward through Fallen Earth.

The previously released single, Unearthed comes next and is a banger. I love the technical riff in the intro that contrasts against the backing atmospheric sounds. The verse is hard and heavy with a wicked riff and superb drumming. The prechorus is good, mixing clean and harsh vocals and leads nicely into a strong chorus with especially good drum and bas lines forming a strong foundation for the higher tones instruments and vocals. The drum solo backed by the atmospheric track is impressive especially in how it kicks back into the song again.

Find Your Way has a wicked lead guitar intro. I love this track. The preceding songs are very good but this is great. I love the energy and aggression of the verses. The darker tones, slowed down thump of the bass and drums over the screeching guitars is sublime. The verses drips in passion and fire and force your head to bang before hitting you with a contrasting chorus. Great stuff.

Someone’s Son starts with a nice melodic line designed to lull you into a false sense of security as it suddenly explodes into fury. Wow. The verses are vicious with powerful lyrics dealing with gang culture. Having just found my favourite in Find Your Way, it has been surpassed by Someone’s Son. It is a track that really epitomises the best of metalcore for me. Contrasting verses and chorus, crunchy heaviness through the verses that hook you in and a powerful message you can buy in to.

Leech is another banger. It’s a shorter song but they still manage to jam pack it full of quality. The vocals have a nice mix of heavy tones and the drums are excellent throughout There is a nice bassy twang to the guitars too which I really like. They avoid the clean chorus too which is really nice to see. It is important bands have enough confidence in their music to step away from the stereotypical structure at times.

The penultimate track is called No Relief, the band’s debut single. I hadn’t heard this previously but can easily see why it gained so much traction. It is very good, utilising every trick in metalcore’s arsenal. Big riffs, contrasting vocals, stop start transitions, high toned melody – you name it, this track has it but it works well. It also has more. A bit of Groom Lake spice with a fiery solo and intriguing atmospheric backing. The song is structured in a way that it flows very well too. For me personally, it doesn’t hit the heights of the preceding three songs though but I think that is a real positive for the band, when people prefer their latest recordings, it shows growth.

We come to the end of Fallen Earth, sadly, with Grave and it is a strong way to end a release. Groom Lake switch things up a bit coming at us with a deep and grooving intro full of intricately placed melody, deep tones and punchy drums. That fades away to leave the first cleanly sung verse over a bit of backing guitars and gentle drum and bass layers. The verse builds up into an emotional chorus that mixes clean and harsh vocals masterfully. It is probably the best chorus on the EP and there are plenty of good ones. I love this song and it’s position on the EP. It closes it perfectly with the only negative being that it is the end.

Groom Lake have done a cracking job, releasing an EP that is as powerful as it is passionate. I must admit, I often think metalcore has run it’s course, or we have seen the best of it but then a band like this comes along and injects the genre with quality that cannot be ignored. I was enjoying it anyway but when that triple header of Find Your Way, Someone’s Son and Leech hit, I was bowled over. The EP went from strong to immense quickly and never let back up. Fallen Earth is a highly recommended release, not just for those fans of bands like While She Sleeps but also for fans of damn good metal.

Be sure to check it out on the 26th of June, enjoy it and share it with all your friends.

Groom Lake Links

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