Cornwall newcomers Falling Empires drop a nostalgia bomb of powerful post-hardcore, stoner rock and grungey goodness in a thrilling sound they describe as “raw, moody and BEEF.”
The quintet of Niall Merrett (vocals), Chris Rash (drums), Martyn Zahan (guitar), Mike Valerio (guitar and backing vocals) and Sean Rowland (Rowly, bass) position themselves as a success story for online band finder websites. It started out with Mike jamming wth a group as a bassist and inviting Niall along to “play guitar and maybe do vocals.” A week later, everyone else had dropped out so they advertised for another guitarist, found Martyn, Niall stopped playing guitar, and they rocked Nirvana and Audioslave covers – which sounds really fun.
“The vibe of the group was tight, so got us thinking ‘we’ve actually got something here,'” Niall told us. “We decided we wanted to start taking things more seriously and began writing our own stuff.
“Unfortunately, our original drummer couldn’t commit to this so I messaged Chris as we’d spoken before. Chris seemed nervous as hell setting up on his ‘audition’ and we thought ‘oh god, here we go.” But then as soon as he started actually playing he really brought a fresh energy to us we’d been missing. I remember looking at Mike and both smiling thinking ‘yeahhhhhboiiiiiiiii.'”
The band recorded their first single Thank God, which was released last July, and came away thinking they needed to add more beef to their sound, so Mike moved from bass to guitar. That was when Rowly, who’d played in a ska band with Niall when they were younger, came along to complete the lineup.
On the sound they’ve honed since, Niall explained: “Our first two songs were very heavily nostalgic to a 2000s screamo sound. But we’ve definitely matured as a band, found our sound and anyone that’s seen us live knows we offer much more than that.
“We all have different inspirations and influences and that really works in our favour. It means we have aspects of screamo, post-hardcore, grunge riffs, metal, alt-rock, nu-metal, stoner rock and a tasty bit of everything. But instead of being just a plate of random ingredients, it’s been blended up into a delicious kick-ass soup of post-hardcore goodness. Oh and… we have rippin’ guitar solos!”
Our latest taste of this is Falling Empires’ third single Keelhaul, which was released at the end of last month. It opens up with a light echoey lick with drums building the atmosphere before a chugging bass joins in and supports a moody opening verse led by Niall’s engaging vocals, which ends with the line “Our god is an ocean.” That line is repeated in more intense fashion with huge screamed vocals supported by more atmospheric instrumentals. The chorus comes to a heavy ending, then drops into a light guitar lick that drops into another light verse – and, by the way, the entire song consists of just four vocal lines. Another huge chorus follows with dual vocals building the intensity, ending with driving guitar chords under a mass of atmospheric vocals. Keelhaul is simple, but absolutely brilliant.
Speaking ahead of its release, Niall told us: “We’re so excited for people to hear Keelhaul. We’re super proud of how it’s sounding and we’ve got to shout out Joe Marsh as his mix and mastering skills really dialled it up to the next level. It’s a firm favourite live – for the audience who give it an epic reaction every time, but also for us as a band as it’s super fun to play.
“It’s moody, dark and foreboding, with breathy verses exploding into big fat screamy choruses and a massive bridge we think people are going to love. Lyrically and the overall vibe gives the feeling of being pulled under a stormy sea, struggling to breathe and having to just accept that there’s something untamable and ruthless that’s got a hold of you, you can’t change anything and have to put your life in the hands of something bigger.
I had to explain it to a couple of the band members when I named the track, but keelhauling is a brutal old nautical punishment (look it up…ouch) – so yeah… pretty dark. We also love the artwork, we worked with a local Cornish photographer (George Cryer) and I think we got something that really showcases the song’s atmosphere in an image.” Check it out in the video here:
Keelhaul follows on from the band’s excellent, far more raw debut single Thank God, which features a typically intense chorus, and Enough, which was released in August. The latter opens up with call-and-response guitars then drops into fast-paced guitars and drums supporting Niall’s engaging vocals. A funky guitar riff supports an intense chorus led by cries of “Is it enough to feel enough.” Midway through, the pace drops with a bumbling bass that’s joined by a fuzzy guitar and a noodling little guitar lick, which continues as intense screamed vocals come in. Check it out in the stream here:
The Falling Empires has sound has been influenced by the likes of Deftones, Alexisonfire, Funeral for a Friend, Black Sabbath, QOTSA, 36 Crazyfists, Thrice, Fightstar, Touche Amore, all of which makes us like them even more.
And on what inspires them to write music, Niall explains: “I’m kind of that classic happy-faced smiling frontman that you think is all good, then you look at the lyrics and go ‘are you actually okay?’ Because I seem to just naturally write with darker themes. Dealing with negative mental health, broken relationships, narration on the messed up state of the world… all that optimistic and happy stuff.
“It’s a bit of a running joke that Rowly comes in with song ideas that have a deep and intricate topic behind them, like Japanese flood defence politics, then I kinda just go ‘yeah, but I’m going to write about how life sucks?'”
There’s plenty more to come from Falling Empires, who plan to get back in the studio to release more of the “real bangers that people need to hear.” They recently played a gig with their Cornish pals Cober Mouth, our New Band of the Week last month. You can also see them play at Moor Brewery in Bristol on Friday (21 March) – tickets are here – and hope to have another headline gig in Newquay over the summer.
And Niall added: “I think we just want to put ourselves out there as much as possible and see what opportunities pop up. But the main thing is building on the momentum we’ve built so far, which considering we only played our first show in September has been awesome! If you’re looking for a mosh-laden good time, come and see us if we’re playing near you. If you don’t believe us, here’s proof: ‘It was quite good actually’ – Martyn’s Mum.”
You can follow Falling Empires on Instagram and TikTok, grab their merch here, and check out their music on Spotify, Apple Music and YouTube.
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