Threads Of Life, the new album by Shadows Fall, is a bracing blast of extreme heavy metal, a heady brew of old-school sensibilities and cutting-edge hard rock delivered with passion, precision and a refreshing lack of pretension. Dubbed “the reigning purveyors of everydude metal” by Revolver magazine, the hard-touring, beer-chugging Massachusetts quintet has handily surpassed the high standards set by their critically feted 2002 release, The Art Of Balance, and its even-more-acclaimed 2004 followup, The War Within — the latter of which had sold over 270,000 copies to date, and received a Grammy nomination for the track “What Drives The Weak”, amazing feats for an independent release.