Falling Dice
Restless

My personal battle with the usual "For fans of" continues, now a must in the underground scene as well. This time it's the turn of Falling Dice and their "Restless," a record that, if I had stopped at the artwork, I would have endorsed without much hesitation as it's not displeasing, but alas, one must listen to what the hell these guys do, right?! Well, honestly, I think it's enough to listen to the first songs "The Dominant Gene," "Homeless," and "One Hate Zero People" to understand that this band from Bergamo is a mix of metalcore and heavy-oriented riffs, neither great nor terrible. Then you read the bio and reach the fateful part related to potential listeners: Mudvayne (?!), Protest The Hero (?!?!) and we triumphantly conclude with Rise Against (?!?!??!?!?!?!?!??!?!?!??!?!?!). Let's start with the first, Mudvayne. Where the hell is the nu-metal in this work?! Moving on to the second: here, I sincerely see neither genius nor artistic recklessness... And finally, who, Rise Against?!?!? An example I would not call out of place, but light-years away from what Falling Dice propose. Having closed this parenthesis, I honestly am not in a position to say that this "Restless" can be a recommended album, as it has not, in my view, focused on a genre to build the project on. It's an album that tastes of old school, certainly not new. A production with very '90s sounds, screamed vocals that have their reason and melodic parts decidedly unimpressive, usual guitar runs, and offbeat rhythm section with habitual use of breakdowns and tempo changes. Nothing new, in short, and above all not even excellent in quality. We are talking about a debut, okay, but when it comes to a product on sale, one must always be honest, and this work is sincerely an example of a "work in progress" that will hardly thrill anyone.