Earthsblood

by God Forbid

Overview

Nearly four years have passed since the release of God Forbid's last album, 2005's post-apocalyptic concept piece Constitution of Treason, and, at the time, the New Jersey natives ranked just beneath bands such as Killswitch Engage, Lamb of God, and Shadows Fall in what was then called (rather generously) the New Wave of American Heavy Metal. Needless to say, much has changed since then, and the heavy metal scene into which the quintet unleashed its fifth long-player, Earthsblood, in early 2009, had seen, among other things, the replacement of melodic death metal with more brutal deathcore, the unlikely rebirth of thrash, the widespread extinction of emo/screamo, and a general stylistic splintering that left no clear indication about the next dominant trend. But luckily, God Forbid have never been ones to follow trends as much as their own creative muse wherever it might lead them, so although some of their fans may chafe at the inevitable progression presented on Earthsblood, no one can accuse the band of playing it safe. Nor is there a simple way to categorize the numerous textures and subgenres contributing to the complex architecture of this new collection of songs: thrash, hardcore, death metal, and non-metal...nothing is really out of bounds. Any given song -- from the concise three-minute punch of "Shallow" to the nine-minute expanse of the title track -- harbors all kinds of instrumental ingredients, including hard/soft mood swings, bludgeoning riffs (some played on down-tuned seven-strings), clean melodies, syncopated and straight-ahead rhythms, etc. Likewise the vocals, which vary from clean to growled and largely recite very decent lyrics, too -- something one should never take for granted in metal. As a result, Earthsblood is not only a challenging and unique-sounding heavy metal album, likely to reveal new secrets with every listen, but in many ways a timeless one as well. It probably won't sink as quickly or appeal as widely as other, more niche-oriented releases, but watch it crop up on many year-end "best of 2009" lists. ~ Eduardo Rivadavia

Product Details

Release Date:	01/26/2024
Label:	M-Theory Audio
UPC:	0709401881972
Rank:	70564

Album Credits

Performance Credits

God Forbid   Primary Artist
Christian Olde Wolbers   Keyboards
Michael Pinnella   Keyboards
Kyle Neely   Drums
Corey Pierce   Drums
Doc Coyle   Guitar,Keyboards,Vocals (Background)
Peter Joseph   Guitar,Soloist
Patrick Pintavalle   Guitar,Soloist
Byron Davis   Vocals
Kris Norris   Guitar,Soloist
Michael Romeo   Featured Artist
Kevin Coyle   Piano
Steve Lagudi   Drums
Dallas Coyle   Keyboards,Vocals,Guitar

Technical Credits

Dallas Coyle   Group Member
Christian Olde Wolbers   Editing,Vocal Engineer,Vocal Producer
Eric Rachel   Editing,Engineer,Producer
Jens Bogren   Mixing,Mastering
Corey Pierce   Group Member
Gustavo Sazes   Layout Design,Artwork
Byron Davis   Group Member
God Forbid   Composer
Eric Kvortek   Editing,Engineer
Michael Romeo   Orchestration
Wesley Seidman   Editing,Vocal Engineer
Clay Patrick McBride   Photography
Doc Coyle   Group Member