REXORIA – FALLEN DIMENSION

So, I did what any self-respecting critic should do when they feel their snobbery leading. I listened again. And then again. And somewhere around the third or fourth listen, I stopped fighting it and started hearing what was there

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Here's what I found. Fallen Dimension is a record that knows exactly what it is. Rexoria aren't trying to write a seven-minute technical death metal epic. They're not interested in drone, or dissonance, or structural ambiguity. What they're interested in is the perfectly constructed anthem. And on those terms, they're genuinely good at it.

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The architecture is deliberately lean. Drums sit clean and functional, mostly 4/4 with well-placed fills. Guitars give us riffs that create strong structure and lead solos that reach for 80s excess without hanging around too long. The bass is present but unfussy. What fills the melodic space where you'd normally expect another guitar or lead instrument is keyboard, and this is where the record reveals its smarts. The keyboard synth work on Fallen Dimension is the atmospheric colouring and the fourth dimension that makes the clean production feel full. On tracks like "Dancing on the Ruins" and "Running with the Stars" it steps into genuine melodic territory, and those tracks are better for it.

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Those lean arrangement decisions exist to serve vocalist Frida Ohlin. And to Rexoria's credit, her voice earns it. Ohlin is impressive. She has energy, presence and range. And she doesn't fight the mix for space because the mix was built so she'd never have to.

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Which brings us to the pivot.

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Rexoria could win Eurovision. Genuinely. But they’re unlikely to play the main stage at Wacken. That's not a put-down – winning Eurovision is not a small achievement. A band capable of Eurovision has nailed melody, spectacle, emotional directness, and broad appeal. Those are real skills. Wacken main stage is a different discipline, requiring physical and sonic dominance that Rexoria aren’t currently pursuing, and judging this record for failing to be that would be using the wrong map entirely.

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There are two tracks on the album that stretch past the 5-minute mark, and they reveal a band with more range than the formula requires. Given space, Rexoria develop. The arrangements on “Dominion” breathe, and on “Heart of Sorrow”, a duet with Johnny Gioeli of Hardline, Ohlin moves through registers rather than just hitting marks, and the band sounds less like a delivery mechanism and more like a band. Fallen Dimension is a convincing argument for who the band currently are. Those two tracks are the argument for who they could be.

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SCORE 8/10

Reviewed by Ryan Lind