Album Review: Rexoria - Fallen Dimension

Being fickle, or particular to be more generous, is something hard to put into words. I've never figured out how to explain to people what it is about one band among many who read from the same playbook that elevates them above all the rest. Why a vocal tone, or a melodic ear, hits me harder than others is the sort of thing that drives philosophers crazy. We think and argue for the sake of explaining the world, and yet we can't even explain ourselves. Sometimes even to ourselves.

Rexoria is one of those bands that stands apart from the crowd. Their last album was one of those power metal records that doesn't reinvent the genre, but reinvigorated it. While power metal is often rigid and played out, Rexoria had a flair and flourish to their sound that won me over. They were powerful and gritty, but melodic and unforgettable. The song "Fading Rose" was one of the best songs of that year, and there hasn't been much in the genre since that has reached the same heights. That makes Rexoria's return something to look forward to.

They call their sound 'royal metal', which might not be the best timing for such a declaration. With the world being in the state it is, reminders of royalty and their 'divine right of arrogance' is not going to go over well with anyone but tabloid publishers.

This album picks up where "Imperial Dawn" left off, utilizing their melodic metal with hints of electronica to balance Frida's massive, gritty voice. They can play on both sides of the light/dark line, giving more heft to the emotional moments, and more melody to the heavy moments. There's a similarity here to what Battle Beast was able to do with Noora Louhimo, but that band was more focused on being hard-charging and relentless. Rexoria has more shade and color to play with, which lets this album feel entirely different than "Imperial Dawn" in a way that, for instance, Battle Beast never achieved.

That record was power metal at its core, but with elements of almost hyper-pop boosting the choruses to massive levels of infectious energy. This record, on the other hand, is more focused on its power. The songs don't bristle with the same manic energy, and the choruses go for bigger notes than they do hooky melodies. Frida finds herself chanting the same line over and over on both "Metallic Rain" and "Malleus Maleficarum", which is a change of pace from the way they were writing the last time we heard from them. This record is more, dare I say, traditional in its approach to metal.

Now we get to the heart of the matter. Rexoria are still great at what they do, and there is a lot to like about this album and these songs. That being said, the overall tone and approach are very different, so this album is not an immediate sale for anyone who was a fan of the previous one. This might prove to be more successful, as there are surely a lot of fans who love traditional metal for its traditional aspects, but I would be remiss if I didn't acknowledge I found myself disappointed as the record played out. I was hoping for more songs that immediately dug into my mind and begged me to sing along, and instead these feel much more like songs I've heard before from other bands.

We do get one perfectly Rexoria track in "Break The Wave", where they tap into their gloriously pompous pop-metal. Hearing that song juxtaposed with the rest of the album only reinforces that they are missing a piece of the spark that made them so great, at least to me. The majority of "Fallen Dimension" is still good, but it doesn't stand apart from the crowd as much. Rexoria sound more like everyone else this time, which makes it even harder to explain why they hit me the way they did. The crowd has gotten a bit more crowded, so even though Rexoria is good, they blend in more.

That leaves this feeling like a step backward, and it makes me want to hear "Fading Rose" again instead.