Review: Fallon – Fallon

FnA Records

Reviewer: Jason Hopper

There is not much that shocks me these days. Hearing an album that sounds like the sequel to Skid Row’s self-titled debut album is one of those once in a blue moon occasions. Of equal surprise is that Fallon’s S/T album has been around for seven years and FnA’s re-release has only now brought it to my attention. I cannot believe I’ve been missing out all this time.

For those not in the know, Fallon is fronted by singer Matt Fallon, who is most famous for being the original singer of Skid Row before Sebastian Bach came in and drove the band to the upper echelon of the melodic rock mountain. I, like many others, heard the original demo of Skid Row’s ’18 and Life’ with Matt on vocals. Everyone would agree that the song was made infinitely better with Sebastian singing the song. Upon hearing that Mr. Fallon was re-releasing songs that includes recordings from a four song EP along with other demos from the band, I had zero interest in the project, until I heard one song from them.

I decided to check out the song ‘Blue Sky in the Rain’ out of curiosity and could not believe what I was hearing. It sounded exactly like a song that could have come off of Skid Row’s debut. I defy you to play this track for any casual fan of the band and convince them that it is NOT a leftover track from that album. You will fool almost anyone.

I then listened to the whole album and was blown away by the quality of the songs on this release. These songs could have competed for viability with other bands in the late 80s and easily won.  To be clear, Matt does not have the vocal range of Sebastian Bach, but he does have a similar lower register and can hold his own with these tracks. The album doesn’t have a major label production value, but the feel of those songs is just as strong.

Every album has some minor issues and this one is no different. The lyrics to ‘Light It Up’ could have used more to the chorus than the constant repeating of the title. The last forty seconds of the track take it to borderline obnoxious levels. ‘Bad Attitude’ is such a rip-off of Queen’s Stone Cold Crazy that it would be lawsuit worthy if the song were ever picked up by mainstream audiences. Both of those songs also have a noticeable drop in sound quality as compared to the rest of the songs on the album, excluding the last two tracks that are labeled as demos. What I found funny is that the whole album consists of mostly demos, but the last two tracks are very rough sounding and difficult to enjoy in a casual listening way.

It’s a mystery to me how an album like this can be overlooked in an era when nearly every band with long hair was getting signed. This album is better than other lower tier bands that were signed to major labels. If Britny Fox can follow Cinderella’s success, then why couldn’t Fallon follow Skid Row? Regardless, this is a must-have for anyone who dug the debut Skid Row album.

This will surely sell out and become hard to find once again, so don’t make the mistake of letting it pass you by.