Forest of Impaled "Forward the Spears" CD
[Red Stream]
After a goofy 30-second intro of orchestral marching that sounds like it was lifted from "Star Wars" or something, these guys crank out some thrashy black/death metal with a pretty rugged sound. I think the production really hurts them, because the riffs and songwriting aren't so bad at all. I like that the bass has a bit of a presence, and the vocals sound alright, but the guitars are too thin and flimsy, and the drums are way too rigid (mainly the kicks and toms, the snare and the cymbals aren't too bad at all)... so percussion drives the mix with vocals jumping out in front of the guitars and bass. I'd like to hear thicker guitars and a tighter mix that holds the drums and vocals in check while giving the bass even more room to breathe (the bassist is very good for this style of music). As for their actual songs, expect a good dose of speed with the tremolo picking blasts and snarling vocals of black metal, some moderately fast thrash riffs, a few lower vocals and some chunkier rhythms more reminiscent of death metal, etc. It's interesting because some of their more dissonant chords have that undeniably Norwegian ring to them, and some of their more tactful speedy arrangements absolutely bring Krisiun to mind, but in all honesty Forest of Impaled doesn't sound like either of those two styles at all. I can't call it original, but I can say that it has its own sort of scope, and they are good at what they do. "The Call of Death's Dark Horn" even busts out some killer melodic harmonies and solos, which is a nice change of pace. The layout's alright. It could be better, it could be worse. The cover art shows a Giger-esque painting of ironclad demon looking soldiers with shields and spears in hand(s) marching towards battle. The lyrics suck, though. I'm just gonna throw that out there. You can probably guess the content, but I'll provide an example just to justify my statement: "Vomit the bastard's blood... Christ the king of lies! I spit on the prophets, behead Mohammed! God of jews denied! Burn! Burn Jerusalem. Burn Mecca! Burn Nazareth! Unholy fire!" Whatever. Are these dudes in fifth grade or something? Ignoring the lyrics and the production, this is a good record. Sadly I can't really see myself pulling it out many more times because the sound is just ineffective for what the actual music has to offer. But under better circumstances this band could do some damage. (5/10)
Running time - 40:42, Tracks: 10
[Notable tracks: The Call of Death's Dark Horn, Death I Have Become Thee]
Red Stream - http://www.redstream.org

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