GOD FORBID THAT WE BE WRETCHED AND RUINED

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  3 Responses »
Mar 202012
 

Three videos from yesterday, packaged together for your viewing pleasure.

The first is the official video from God Forbid and Victory Records for the song “Where We Come From” off the band’s sixth album, Equilibrium, which is going to drop on March 26. This is the second track released from the album so far, the first being “Don’t Tell Me What To Dream”, which we featured in an earlier post (here). Both songs are strong. Although I thought the first one incorporated some “modernizing” elements, this new one sounds more like what I expected from these metalcore heavyweights. It’s immediately infectious and of course it brings the groove. It’s a fun video, too, transitioning from day-job clips to a live performance at a joint called Dingbatz on February 24.

God Forbid’s North Carolina label mates Wretched also premiered a new video yesterday. Victory seems to be staging the ramp-up to both bands’ albums in tandem (Wretched’s Son of Perdition is due for release on March 27). We included the first track from Wretched’s album in that same previous post that featured “Where We Come From”, because they premiered on the same day, too. The new song is called “Dilated Disappointment”, and it’s a heavy metal blizzard. In fact, it appears to have ionized the atmosphere where the video was shot, leading to an electric storm that matches the conflagration of the music.

The third video is one I discovered thanks to an e-mail tip from Ben C. (Church of the Riff). It’s a visually arresting CGI animated short called Ruin. It depicts airborne mechanized hunters chasing a human (who doesn’t seem to be entirely human) through a post-apocalyptic city. Fortunately, the prey has a Yamaha MT-01 in damned good running order, so he has a fighting chance. I’m not a gamer, so the level of visual detail and realism achieved in the video may be old hat, but it sure wowed me. It was created by Wes Ball and Oddball Animation.

All three videos come right after the jump. Continue reading »

NEW MUSIC: GOD FORBID AND WRETCHED

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  12 Responses »
Mar 022012
 

Once upon a time, when metalcore was a new thing, I ate it up, all I could get and as much as I could hold. And one of my favorite bands was God Forbid. My listening tastes have moved off in different directions, but I’ve still got a soft spot for this band, and I’m getting curious about what’s happened to their music. We’re all about to find out, because their sixth album, Equilibrium, is going to drop on March 26 via Victory Records.

The line-up hasn’t changed much since the early days — Dallas Coyle is gone and Matt Wicklund is in — but the world of music has changed a lot since the days of Determination, and God Forbid have done their share of changing along the way, too, with a more dominant thrash attack, jacked up by the head-spinning guitar solo’s of Doc Coyle and even the incorporation of progressive influences. But three years have passed since Earthblood, and I’m wondering where we’ll find God Forbid now.

Well, so far we’ve got two pieces of evidence — a portion of one song called “Cornered” and as of yesterday a full song called “Don’t Tell Me What To Dream”. And I’d certainly say, based on yesterday’s release, that God Forbid have . . . “modernized.”

More thoughts about that, plus the new song, after the jump. Also after the jump is a new song from another Victory band, North Carolina’s Wretched, whose 2010 album Beyond the Gate I praised in this NCS review. They also have a new album due for release — Son of Perdition. Continue reading »

AND IN CASE YOU FORGOT WHY METALCORE WAS/IS STILL WORTH A SHIT…

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  7 Responses »
Sep 132011
 

. . . we have a new song from God Forbid. It’s really not all that new, because if you had been paying attention, you would have noticed that the Victory Records Labor Day sampler we spot-lighted on Labor Day included a demo track from God Forbid’s next album, which happens to be this same song. I don’t exactly blame you for overlooking this, because the sampler was a very mixed bag, and I’m well aware that many readers of this site run for the hills at the mention of Victory Records.

Now, here’s where I get brutally honest, which of course is the only kind of honest we know how to be here at NCS, at least when we choose to be honest, which is always an elective, not a mandatory, in our course catalogue: I didn’t listen to that God Forbid song when the Victory Records sampler first came out, even though I wrote about the sampler. I didn’t even listen to it when other metal blogs said it was the main reason to load-down the sampler. In fact, I didn’t listen to it until yesterday, when the band plugged that song onto their Facebook page.

But I’ve heard it now, and it reminded me of a few things: It reminded me that metalcore played a big role in reviving and broadening interest in metal in the U.S., and it reminded me why. By combining elements of hardcore, thrash, and Scandinavian style melodeath riffage, metalcore introduced legions of new fans to music that was both heavy and melodic, aggressive and yet catchy and memorable. It reminded me how much I used to like metalcore before it became saturated with jillions of generic copycat acts. And it reminded me that I still get something out of the music when it’s done right.

God Forbid, of course, is no copycat. With a particularly thrash-heavy attack, they helped lay the foundations for the genre. The new song — “Where We Come From” — is nothing ground-breaking, of course. But it’s God Forbid in their own groove, and it sounds just fine to me.  It’s been two years since the band’s last album came out, but they’re promising a new one by 2012. You can listen to the new song after the jump . . . Continue reading »

The stuff Alexis is into:

 Welcome  1 Response »
Nov 232009
 

So you all have probably read some things by the author islander, but there’s a new girl in town! I’ll be writing about the music I love and things I’m passionate about. Here is the music I love Continue reading »