The Forsaken - Arts Of Desolation
2002, Century Media
The first time I met The Forsaken was in May when they played in Hungary. I wasn`t really convinced by them; true, I saw only half of their show. So when their second album came out this year I was really eager to hear it, since I`ve read only good reviews from their prevous record.
They are from Sweden and they were on tour with Grave and Disinter, so I think you can easily guess they play some kind of death metal. To be exact, they mixed the European and American death metal elements, trying to find the balance between melodies and dry beatings, and spiced it up with an imposing amount of their thrash influences. Combining the sharp aggressiveness of thrash with the constant pounding of death metal would be enough to create really heavy music. From this their music has some rolling power in it, but there is still something missing - most of the time I don`t feel the pulsating energy that is the base of this kind of music. The varied guitar works are amazing in songs such as `Incubator`, `Human Chapter X` or the slower tempo'd `The Second Manifest`. The twin guitars and the rhythm changes are the strong points of the album. Also the melodies in songs like `Cold Flesh Colony` and `Dethroned` will catch you. These are definitely the outstanding moments of the album. Unfortunately there are too many typical, average tracks on the album that you can like only for its fastness. I`m also not too fond of Ander`s vocals, it`s too monotonous - he should have to tried to play with his voice to test himself in other ranges, specially I would prefer deeper growling vocals with this music. Somehow it`s just not aggressive enough for me. Although he does a better job in `Human Prey`, a song that will shake you up even if you weren`t totally satisfied with the album so far. It`s fast, brutal, broke with slow and fast rhythm changes and a galing guitar solo in the middle. This song has that living energy I missed before.
Well, it`s not a worthless album, but I think there is much more in the band and hopefully their next work will meet my expectations.
Tracklist:
1. Incubator
2. The Hatebreed
3. Cold Flesh Colony
4. Dethroned
5. Embedded Insanity
6. The Second Manifest
7. Injected Terror
8. Human Chapter X
9. Scars
10. Mental Degeneration
11. Human Prey - bonus track
The Forsaken Homepage
Century Media
2002, Century Media
The first time I met The Forsaken was in May when they played in Hungary. I wasn`t really convinced by them; true, I saw only half of their show. So when their second album came out this year I was really eager to hear it, since I`ve read only good reviews from their prevous record.
They are from Sweden and they were on tour with Grave and Disinter, so I think you can easily guess they play some kind of death metal. To be exact, they mixed the European and American death metal elements, trying to find the balance between melodies and dry beatings, and spiced it up with an imposing amount of their thrash influences. Combining the sharp aggressiveness of thrash with the constant pounding of death metal would be enough to create really heavy music. From this their music has some rolling power in it, but there is still something missing - most of the time I don`t feel the pulsating energy that is the base of this kind of music. The varied guitar works are amazing in songs such as `Incubator`, `Human Chapter X` or the slower tempo'd `The Second Manifest`. The twin guitars and the rhythm changes are the strong points of the album. Also the melodies in songs like `Cold Flesh Colony` and `Dethroned` will catch you. These are definitely the outstanding moments of the album. Unfortunately there are too many typical, average tracks on the album that you can like only for its fastness. I`m also not too fond of Ander`s vocals, it`s too monotonous - he should have to tried to play with his voice to test himself in other ranges, specially I would prefer deeper growling vocals with this music. Somehow it`s just not aggressive enough for me. Although he does a better job in `Human Prey`, a song that will shake you up even if you weren`t totally satisfied with the album so far. It`s fast, brutal, broke with slow and fast rhythm changes and a galing guitar solo in the middle. This song has that living energy I missed before.
Well, it`s not a worthless album, but I think there is much more in the band and hopefully their next work will meet my expectations.
Tracklist:
1. Incubator
2. The Hatebreed
3. Cold Flesh Colony
4. Dethroned
5. Embedded Insanity
6. The Second Manifest
7. Injected Terror
8. Human Chapter X
9. Scars
10. Mental Degeneration
11. Human Prey - bonus track
The Forsaken Homepage
Century Media
