Fatal Frames Define Ruthless and Relentless With A Cut Above The Rest
Written by Jesse James Smith
There is a special place in my heart for Heavy Beatdown. For all of you All Time Low lovin’ emos who stumbled upon this, Beatdown is a low tuned metal genre that focuses on aggression and all of the breakdowns… All of them, Yes Knocked Loose is close. Paleface Swiss, Bodysnatcher, VCTMS and a bunch of others really lead the pack in this genre and I think this band from Orlando is not far behind them. Fatal Frames is a new band that I just heard of that now has my undivided attention. This band has been heavy hittin’ since 2021, but this new song ‘A Cut Above The Rest’ absolutely SLAMS and we have to talk about it.
I don’t care how boring you say it is, I love the beatdown is mostly all fight and no flair, meaning all want all of the chugs and some of the noodles. This song is that, It’s balls to the wall for 2:30 and does not let up. The simplicity of the “four to the floor” chugs and kick pattern makes this absolutely devastating. Some of my favorite moments of this song I think are some subtle yet vital parts of this song. The one liner of “I feel the pressure of the world weighing down on me” with the glitch of the effect on the ‘world’ was A1. One liners have always been one of my favorite parts of heavy music, It’s like a sing along part for a band who doesn’t sing. But it’s not the line itself, it’s the glitch part because it was so subtle and cool that it demanded even more attention to that part. No matter what, live or recorded, effect or not that part is going to be cool but now they demanded that to be “The Part”. Not even 10 seconds after this, my other favorite part is the tempo change. The obvious slow down is such a vibe that you weren’t expecting, but it made it so heavy.
I once heard someone say “A breakdown isn’t about showing how good of a musician you are, it’s about showing how brutal you can be” and for me there is nothing more primal and heavy than just simplicity at an unwavering amount. Now, I have listened to more of this band’s music and they do have some riffy and prog-ish parts, so If that is your thing then please make your way over to their Spotify or Apple Music, but I have to appreciate how brutal this song is and I hope they lean into this more once in a while.