EP - REVIEW - Blossoms Fall - La Alma

Hot dog! Coming straight out of Albuquerque, New Mexico, Blossoms Fall may have the name of a

landfill indie band from the late 1990s, but their metalcore clank is the perfect soundtrack to murder

After tearing up the local music scene during the pandemic years, Matt Torres and Dion Elliott have

swelled their line up with singer Shay Raelynn and it’s this fallen angel’s undertaker vocals that make

The PR fluff accompanying the record says La Alma is ‘emotionally themed… like a massive tsunami

that would crash on our shores, flooding the highways and leaving behind mystical threads of hope in

the riptides’. No, me neither, but if you’re reading this, it might be because singles ‘Affliction’ and

‘Luna’ have already burned their way through your external auditory meatus, and you won’t be

Ok, that’s not strictly true. There’s a 42-second instrumental leading into ‘Luna’ which sounds a bit too

much like U2 for me. Skip this and go straight into the main course, Raelynn grabbing you by the

throat and lifting you off your feet as she thunders, “When I look at you / I see the one true guide in my

night sky / you keep the tidal waves from pulling me under again / I can see the end”. Reading these

I challenge you to listen to opener and strongest track ‘Prophecy’ first thing in the morning and NOT

be ready for what your crappy day is going to throw at you. “Lay awake in the night / all I know is that I

really need to run away / run far away”. A lot of the lyrics on this EP are about getting away from

something, be it a person, a place, a situation, even yourself. ‘Prophecy’ is what I’ll be listening to

That theme continues on ‘Affliction’ (“Let me in / they’re coming closer and closer / I feel their

darkness on my skin”) and closer ‘La Alma’ (Free me from myself / my sins / my flesh”), albeit against

Yes, guitarist and sometime vocalist Torres can sound as if he’s just been fired from Blink 182, which

is completely at odds to the serious kicking Elliott is giving his drum kit and to Raelynn’s wrestling

promo-esque tantrums. But it WORKS. And even at first listen, there’s plenty to enjoy here.

If you like your post-hardcore with more than a flash of melody but with a lead vocal that is going to

come over, drink all your vodka, then tear the place apart, then Blossom Falls and ‘La Alma’

might just be who you’ve been waiting for to knock. My door is open, mis amigos.

 https://www.eclipserecords.com/band/blossoms-fall/