New Band of the Week: Past The Fall

Cambridge trio Past The Fall have honed an explosive and captivating groove metal sound that they describe as “melodic, heavy and groovey.”

The band was established on the lifelong friendship between bassist and vocalist Will Wright and guitarist and vocalist Tom Cope. The pair have known each other since they were 12 and started playing music together when they were 15. And their musical journey has been closely entwined as they stepped in and out of different bands over the years before combining their experience and eclectic tastes by teaming up with drummer Sam McLean in Past The Fall.

The result is what Will describes to us as: “Pantera mixed with Alice In Chains and a smattering of Opeth and Tool with absolutely epic solos. Songwriting always first and covers all dynamics.”

Our first taste of this was the trio’s self-produced debut album From Insanity’s Ruin, which was released in 2021. The diverse album is packed with intriguing melodies, powerful riffs, vicious vocals, proggy goodness and moments of melancholy.

Case in point is the delicious Poison Mirror, which opens up with a doomy, lingering riff and drums that continue under eerie spoken vocals. The intensity builds then explodes into heavy vocals and drums with a darting riff, before dropping into engaging clean vocals.

The spoken vocals return before dropping into a huge riff and intense vocals and drums then a cool stabbing riff. And that gradually builds towards a ripping guitar solo, which ends with a moment of silence and a more laid-back lick before a mroe laid-back solo takes over to bring the track to a close.

Taking the intensity up a notch is the excellent Beholden, which dives straight into heavy guitars and drums and guttural vocals. That feeds into delicious clean dual vocals, which dive straight back into the more intense screams. Second time around, a naughty guitar solo takes over and quickly comes back for a second helping. Check it out in the video here:

We also love the sound of Drainer, which opens up with a booming riff and intense screamed vocals before engaging clean vocals take over. Drawn-out guitar chords drop into a cool little riff that continues under a huge guitar solo. And for something a little different, take a listen to Seldom Reason, which begins with laid-back vocals, gradually intensifies as the song continues and builds up to an epic solo. We also recommend checking out the equally excellent Epitaph that, of course, features a trademark guitar solo here:

Past The Fall draw influences from a wide range of styles and bands including Pantera, Alice in Chains, Soundgarden, Megadeth, Opeth, Mastodon and Black Sabbath.

And on what inspires them to write music, Will tells us: “Everything comes out of personal experience of the world we’re in and so it can be a little dark in places. Things like loneliness, depression, deaths in the family, stalkers and social media. But we try to be just as real in the way we counter these challenges and talk of hope through those experiences.”

There’s plenty more to come from Past The Fall, who’ve started recording new material that should be out by the end of this year. They’ll also be playing shows and festivals across the UK and Europe.

You can follow Past The Fall on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, and check out their music on Spotify, Apple Music and YouTube.