Album Review: Fallujah – Xenotaph (Nuclear Blast Records)

Tech-metal outfit Fallujah are back with their brand-new album, ‘Xenotaph’, released June 13th, 2025, through Nuclear Blast.

I think it goes without saying that Fallujah are an incredibly unique band. Yet, to the uninitiated that might sound like hyperbole. After all, the metal world is filled with incredible bands doing incredible things. Still… there’s nobody quite like Fallujah and it won’t take long for a naysayer to be convinced of this. In fact, as far as this album goes (and that’s not including their immense back catalogue), it takes three minutes and six seconds.

That is the length of the opening track, In Stars We Drown, where Fallujah unveil transcendent beauty and intense heaviness, perfectly balanced. It’s a powerful start to a powerful album, showcasing the kind of song structure that is so much more than just a ‘tech-metal’ track and setting an extremely high bar. Although chances are, like me, you’ll be so taken in by this opener that you’ll have no doubt that it won’t take long before that bar is sured.

Guess what? It’s Kaleidoscopic Waves, the first of several singles and a track that gets better with each subsequent listen. Showcasing a confident band that is more than capable of drawing from their extensive history but refusing to stagnant as they deliver a punchy and powerful progressive blast of heaviness. While this is great, it’s how they layer in the clever melodies, switch up the vocal styles, and still show off an insane amount of flair that impresses the most. It is a highlight amongst highlights and will be beloved by the wider fanbase, I think.

Although that could just be because I love this band and can’t imagine that anyone would hear Labyrinth of Stone and The Crystalline Veil and not love every bit of Fallujah’s progressive ways. Yet, even then, there’s more here as the modern edge that Fallujah have gives it a shaper and more intense feel. This is an evolved band, refining their rougher bits, and experimenting in unexpected ways. It almost always results in something very stylish and very dynamic that keeps the listener on the edge of their seat. Utterly unpredictable in the best ways.

Then, just when it seems like they’ve scaled to impossible heights, they find a way to soar even more. It’s Step Through the Portal and Breathe and it is my favourite track on the album. Not only does it see the band deliver sharpened savagery, moments of blunt force, and gobsmacking technical twists, but it has addictive rhythms and extravagant touches of melody that give it more cinematic value. Out-bloody-standing.

Take a deep breath though, we’re far from done as A Parasitic Dream proves to be one of the album’s most creative and challenging songs. Weird, truly weird, but as always, truly wonderful. As is The Obsidian Architect, which has Fallujah create an otherworldly vibe (the synth is an inspired touch), while also delivering some of their heaviest ages on the album, especially as the drum/guitar combo has a bludgeoning approach. It might have plenty of ‘cleaner’ moments and flashes of melody, but this one will be ed for its heaviness.

Which brings us to the finale, the title track, and the longest effort of all. Which, of course, means Fallujah push the progressive bar even further, while finding fresh depths of brutal heaviness, dazzling melodic highs, and everything in between to explore. It’s spectacular, effortlessly so, and while a word like ‘epic’ might seem blasé as a way to sum this track up, it fits. This is a f**king epic track and a one hell of a f**king exclamation mark on this album.

Is it the best thing that Fallujah has released? I think so, and when you consider the quality in their back catalogue that should tell you all you need to know about this record. An album of the year contender without a shadow of a doubt.

Fallujah – Xenotaph Track Listing:

1. In Stars We Drown
2. Kaleidoscopic Waves
3. Labyrinth of Stone
4. The Crystalline Veil
5. Step Through the Portal and Breathe
6. A Parasitic Dream
7. The Obsidian Architect
8. Xenotaph

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