Where did it all go wrong for Shadows Fall? While Lamb of God and Killswitch Engage continued to build momentum and became major international acts, the Shads just fell by the wayside, and while one could point to the commercial underperformance of Threads of Life, which was undoubtedly exacerbated by it being released on a major label, the record was really not that bad (it was certainly eons better than Killswitch’s second self-titled record). If anything, it seemed like their consistency ultimately worked against them- none of their records were bad at all, but there also weren’t many signs of evolution or growth as time went on. Maybe that was why Fire from the Sky, good as it was, felt a bit indistinguishable from the rest of the catalogue, and why even though “Lost Within” was energetic, well-written and performed with conviction, it didn’t feel like an essential statement. It wasn’t that Shadows Fall were rote, because this was still as strong as anything else out there, but we had heard this from them before. Again, this was a great band that deserved better, and “Lost Within” was a very good track on a very good record. Maybe the Shads just ran out of things to say.
