Vishal Naidu and Aditya Ramesh, the Bangalore-based Alt Rock/Metal duo behind the musical banner Fallen Letters, present their debut EP ‘Forlorn Pages,’ a collection of six tracks, each an intricate web of melody and emotion that captures the essence of progressive, metal, and alt rock genres. Inspired by acts like Opeth, Blackfield, and Deftones, Fallen Letters conjure a sound that is defined by its compositional brilliance and raw spirit. With a timelessness that is hauntingly evocative and melancholy that is cathartic, their soundscapes invite you on an inward journey with profound, soul-stirring effects. ‘Forlorn Pages’ brings you a whirlpool of sounds and stories with lofty highs and crashing lows that will consume you and transport you to a place like no other, one that is deep within, where feelings and fears reside.
The EP opens with the track ‘Prologue,’ a short prelude setting the tone of the album. Inducing intrigue, frisson, and mystique the music features fire crackling, embers flying, and pages of paper turning; the beginning of a sonic story that is about to enthrall.
Carrying this air of enigma, comes the next track ‘For A While.’ The wonder and wistfulness of the melodies in this track will instantly captivate you, displaying the sheer magnitude of musical depth that Fallen Letters possess. The reverberating guitar solos, gritty riffs, raucous screams and pounding drums inject intensity to the music, giving you the first taste of emotional and instrumental abundance that the rest of the album holds.
‘Remain A Memory’ brings to the fore the poignant lyricism of Fallen Letters, writing with a vulnerability and sincerity that makes it real and personal. The duo unleash the might of their metal quotients in this track, filling it up with the harsh and hyped guitars and vocals. Oscillating between melancholic verses and explosive passages, the music shapeshifts in tonality–sad, ominous, wrathful. The aggression and dynamism of the instruments and vocal performance brings a foreboding, tense atmosphere to the track, one that exhilarates.
‘Relapse’ settles into a more slow-building, steady rhythm with radiant guitar notes, dusky ambiance, and gritty riffs. The melody-driven feel of this song sends you into a state of soft feeling, one that is incubating roiling chaos amidst the serenity of it all. This track shines light on the musical sensibility with which Fallen Letters compose their songs, encapsulating such a wide spectrum of tonality in their EP, the softness that follows abrasion, the tranquility that follows disruption, it is truly impressive.
‘Our Own Demise’ takes you to a lighter, warmer place with the resonant acoustic guitars, lush ambiance, pulsing guitar riffs, and thumping drums. Still soaked in melancholy but clothed in a sense of freeing surrender, the music has an expansive, immersive feel.
The final track, ‘Beneath the Opaque Veil’ brings you death metal in all its glory, a fitting end to the EP. It is terrifying, haunting, imposing, and eruptive. There is a melancholy, and a majesty to the sound that will leave you spell-bound.
There is a commendable level of sophistication and skill that permeates the production in each song. The EP is a cosmos of sonic elements; gritty riffs, smoldering solos, thunderous drums, towering screams, tender expressions, and powerful melodies all summoned into masterful, harmonious worlds of music ready to be experienced. Each song brings you a tale, a tone that reaches into you. Listen to ‘Forlorn Pages’ by Fallen Letters here!
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