Stay with me here dear readers, I'll explain the purpose of this.

I've been skeptical when it comes to mainstream metal is an understatement. Got to thank the let-the-body-hit-the-floors and the-roof-the-roof-the-roof-is-on-fires of this world earlier this decade for this. When these nu-metal baggy pant walletchain wearing gaywads started listening to DEP, Tool, Meshuggah, Pantera, a whole lot of Gothenburg bands and some classic old school thrash, it seemed a little interesting in a very at-least-they're-playing-some-leads-again way. I eventually did check out an album or two from this new wave of bands that's now famously called Metalcore. I heard the initial albums by the likes of Black Dahlia Murder, Lamb of God, Trivium and so on. I like a lot of their influences and most of these bands had accomplished players but the problem was, they still sucked. There are two kinds of people who like this. The newcomer metal kid and the old guy who hasn't heard any new music since Kurt Cobain killed the glam. They both don't know their extreme metal.

Now Gautham on the other hand has been reading shit like Metal Hammer and knows what's going on; has heard and even bought a handful of albums from this breed. He gives me this concept album by the long-running metalcore outfit called God Forbid to review. If you're still asking why, direct the question to him because I sat through this a few times already so this review is on, fuckers.

God Forbid have done their hardwork, toned their chops, inked a deal with Century Media and have even done their chores at Ozzfest. Boys are obviously big and it's time for their epic album. It's their turn to have those intros, grand piano interludes, orchestra-lite arrangements and, you guessed right, lengthy songs for their politically charged concept album about a post-apocalyptic world recuperating but eventually destroying itself. They even go to Capharnaum's very own Jason Suecof who has been churning out metalcore bestsellers like nobody else in the business. Just check this out.

It's all fine and it has happened before, but what about the real deal? What's the music all about? For starters, these guys like their thrash which reflects in their riffing tendencies, and this is arguably the best part about them. The riffs are quasi-technical and often catchy, groovy and inventive. When these guys are doing their thrash, think Exodus meets latter period Prong, though not as ballsy and not with as much attitude, but still cool. But they'd do this and spoil it with a timid staccato start-stop riffing bit that sounds so typically tired of this genre. Oh and for sure, they like their gothenburg metal along with the by-now-mandatory guitar harmonies too. Some of these tricks work and many don't. The leads, intended to be all melodic and epic are well phrased and executed without getting too cheesy.

And surprise. They have the growled vocals in the verse and somehow for the chorus and/or bridge, they turn to the plodding epic clean sung style. Why won't they, for a change, write a clean sung verse and get to the growl when they want the song to peak? Didn't they learn anything from Iommi about giving your heaviest for the chorus? You can't have all the tension during the verse and resolve it to a singing chorus that repeats itself on almost every album by your kind all the fucking time.

The production is well, shiny, polished, overloaded with studio jobs and in the fashion that makes almost every band in the pigeonhole sound the same tonally.

Overall, I like bits of this album because they're influenced by some of the sounds that I enjoy. Instead of an epic, all God Forbid have done is to have served a musical platitude. Buy it if you're into this new wave of mainstream metal thing, and since you obviously like the brutality with a hint of melodies I've got to ask you this. Have you heard Iniquity yet?



Year of Release: 2005
Label: Century Media