Fallen Leaves & Dead Sparrows

Fallen Leaves & Dead Sparrows is the sixth album, released on 14 February 2014, on which Amoral crossed heavy guitar mass with delicate, inward melody. It is a concept album about the one big mistake that cannot be undone. People like the idea of a second chance, Ben Varon said, but sometimes that simply is not an option. The songs are not fixed to one genre; shifting from quiet air into strong riffs widens their emotional swing. The leaning toward length — songs averaging around seven minutes — came from finding the previous album's title track the most rewarding to play. “If Not Here, Where?,” past nine minutes, sits at the centre and carries the story's turning point. “The Storm Arrives” is an instrumental, while “Blueprints,” the advance video, is a ballad with a dry lyricism. Varon produced; drums were cut at Sound Supreme and everything else at the members' home studios. And a collaboration pending since 2008 finally happened here: Marko Hietala (Nightwish) produced Ari Koivunen's vocals. A record that carved out its own place between weight and lyricism, and rewards sitting with it.