ReView: Fact Pattern – Fallen Language0

Fact Pattern
Album: Fallen Language
Category: Industrial / Metal
Label: Black Voodoo Records
Release Date: 2019-05-10

It’s always refreshing to see and hear a band emerge with a strong vision as Los Angeles trio Fact Pattern has done with this full-length debut album. Throughout Fallen Language, the group presents an unrelenting onslaught of crushing guitars, forceful drums, subtle but striking bass grooves, all set to the persistent and, at times, merciless dirge of shrill machines. Amid this brute force, Ian Flux infuses a distinctly melodic and structured approach to songwriting, the results of which present an occasionally dissonant sense of flow that is at times disruptive to the listening experience. For instance, “Prions” chugs along like a mechanical menace ravenous for blood, before twice yielding to a pensively ambient thrum of bass and synth arpeggios, while “A Form to Be” strikes with steely and distorted bass refrains and strutting whiplash grooves, the haunting vocal effects scratching through the speakers with a sense of shrill desperation, if not for the bridge wherein dynamic percussion and a brooding and somewhat doomy progression enters; it all feels slightly out-of-place and is sure to put the listener in a state of unease… but then, that is perhaps the point. There are moments on Fallen Language when Flux seems unable or unwilling to settle in a definitive vocal range, going from a baritone croon to a hoarse roar to waver higher pitches that reveal his limitations; at times, he seems to sing in a different key from the instrumental, particularly on “My Guard Down.” However, his harmonic talents do seem to strengthen with each consecutive track, later songs like “Data Cleanse” and “Unholy Mirrors” proving to the emotive high points of the album. However, it can be said that Fact Pattern has put forth a bold effort, with Flux also producing and mixing to give Fallen Language a very deliberate and focused sound; this writer would hope to hear some refinement on future releases, as there is plenty of room for it, but it can be said that Fact Pattern knows how to make an impression as Fallen Language does so quite effectively.
 
Track list:

1. Under the Knife
2. My Guard Down
3. Fallen Language
4. Prions
5. Pleasure and Rust
6. A Form to Be
7. Data Cleanse
8. Unholy Mirrors
9. Wealthy in Theory

 
Fact Pattern
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Black Voodoo Records
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Ilker Yücel (Ilker81x)