22nd May 2022

Review: “The Rise & Fall” by Nouve//es

A collaboration between Cody Hess formerly of Sleep Signals fame and Scott Van Slyke from Deaf Angel and She Killed Poetry which sprung to life during the winter of 2021, the very definition of Nouve//es is “a narrative story with a meaning or purpose“. That’s not only the name which the pair have chosen to write under but also the mantra by which the pair from Texas have created their music, citing influences in Times of Grace, Bullet for My Valentine and Killswitch Engage in the process…

…While Nouve//es haven’t called it one there is a concept that underpins “The Rise & Fall“, a narrative that intertwines the songs like a twisted vine growing through brickwork and reclaiming the creations of man to nature. Essentially these songs form an emotionally charged rollercoaster ride as the protagonist goes from struggling through every day life to falling in love admist the chaos. “As The Embers Rise” and “Pray For Me” set the scene as conjoined twins never to be parted as the intro flows into the first song proper without skipping a beat. Sonically the bands influences are worn on their sleeves here, the emotional clean vocal parts resonating but its the unclean vocals however that are the surprise part of this party package, vicious and snarling baring teeth as the polar opposite of those cleans. If the title track was labelled a demo from the “Alive Or Just Breathing?” era Killswitch Engage, you wouldn’t bat an eyelid, such is the quality here. Kat Freeman of Para Bellum adds some gorgeous vocal harmonies that impress while the classic Gothenburg sound influenced Metalcore riffs simply keep coming. Batman Forever gave us “Kiss From A Rose” and Nouve//es turn it into a classic Metalcore cut, adding drive and energy without taking away any of what made the original what it is. Clean and unclean vocal parts give it a one-two punch with and there is a nice tapping section in this one. If you put it beside the version of “Crazy” that Mushroomhead did on a Metal Tribute to Seal, it would more than hold its own. All in all, a solid slab of Metalcore that has a certain nostalgic edge about it [7/10]