Falling Up - Dawn Escapes

Reviewed by Steve Scott

Released in October 2005, 'Dawn Escapes' is the follow-up release to the 2004 debut album 'Crashings' for the Oregon nu-metallers. Childhood friends and now labelmates with Kutless, they play their abrasive music with an assured conviction. Opening track "Searchlights" kicks things off in style with an orchestral introduction that whets the appetite, before a guitar riff of Linkin Park and Hoobastank proportions takes over. The vocals of Jess Ribordy rise above the well-polished production and offer the sort of overall sound a heavier Earthsuit may well have achieved if they'd stayed together. The album takes a few interesting diversions musically, such as the piano-driven ballad "Contact" and the rhythmically clever "Fearless", but on the whole unashamedly sticks to the well-defined route of nu-metal. Lyrically, Falling Up point to the nature of God without specifically mentioning him by name; nevertheless a constant underlying theme is evident, none more so than on "Moonlit": "The hope is where his hand has bled". As with many bands of this genre, Falling Up are perhaps not the most inventive group to emerge from the Christian rock scene. But for metal devotees this record will be a pleasure.