Ever Forthright-Always Brutal

Sometimes, many of today’s metal bands can begin to sound the same. Many of the bands in each genre of metal sound so similar to each other that it becomes hard to find standouts. But every once in a while, a band comes along that shakes me to the core and reminds me why i still listen to the genre of music that i do.

Today, that band is Ever Forthright. Ever Forthright is a five piece experimental tech death band from Long Island, New York. In the “sounds like” section of their Myspace page, they describe themselves as “something original,” which is entirely accurate. They are one of the few bands i have heard that can maintain a beastly technical prowess while capturing a unique feel to each song.

Ever Forthright combines insane guitar sweeps with crushing blast beats while still keeping a melodic feel and even an occasional breakdown. They even have an  electronic feel to them as heard in the song “Just Onslaught” off their self-titled debut album, which consists of 8 demo songs from 2008 and 3 from 2009. Many of their songs show off some of the sharpest, tightest technical guitar play I’ve heard. One of the finest examples of this can be heard in the song “Split the Hollow Apparatus,” which is a 2.5 minute tour de force with one of the most insane guitar sweeps I’ve heard that transitions perfectly to a ridiculously heavy breakdown of bone-crunching proportions.

Although Ever Forthright is mainly all about showing off their technical skill, they manage to do so in a non-pretentious or annoying way by keeping a melodic, catchy feel in songs like “An Alias Perspective,” “Biocentric Concrete,” and “Let the Battery Consume You.” They have a versatility unmatched by many technical death metal bands. The vocals of Nick Llerandi and James Beach generally transition seamlessly from high pitched vox to low brutal growls especially during the occasional breakdown.

My favorite song off the album is “In The Vile Breed,” which moves from a breakdown mid-song to a mind-boggling combination of blast beats and guitar sweeps that transition perfectly to perhaps the heaviest breakdown on the album. The guitar play of Nick Llerandi and Billy Anderson is some of the best I’ve heard within the genre and they have an immense amount of talent that deserves to be recognized.

Ever Forthright has seas of potential to be one of the most original yet brutal and technical bands in the genre. Everyone who has any interest in death metal at all, which i assume you do if you’re reading this article, needs to go out and support these guys. They are currently writing a new album and are not yet touring, but i hope they start soon. Only one question remains: why the fuck are these guys unsigned?