God Forbid Earthsblood

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by Matthew Hoffman 
Staff Writer

The one time metal-core band God Forbid is now a dominant thrash/death metal merchant. Their blazing new high charged mix is entitled Earthsblood and is out now on Century Media. It is the bands fifth full length CD in their ten year existence, and is getting mad airplay on Sirius/XM’s channel 42.

Their music sounds like a revved up more extreme version of the Massachusetts band All That Remains, and is as hard but slightly more catchy than last years killer Arsis release We Are The Nightmare.

They have huge hooks and a combination of extreme and traditionally sung vocals married together with hellacious guitar riffs, thundering drums and a sick bass line.

Their lead singer Byron Davis also has one heck of a personality and leads and drives the fray with a wild yet precise approach.

The bands guitars are handled by the brother Coyle, Doc and Dallas, who already in a few short years made a solid name for themselves. They hammer through kick-ass riffs in every song and lace the proceedings up with killer leads and solo work.

One of the dominant guitar scenarios on this album is the cut “Walk Alone,” where the Coyle’s coil up and lunge forward like a pair of Fer De Lance Vipers from the songs initial notes. After tearing through wonderful melodies and supporting fills the small lead that comes at 3:15 only wets the palate for the vicious red headed bastard step-child lead at 3:45. Here a rapid fire series of layered notes shred their way forward and then after another cool regular passage the main solo comes at 5:10 and is fantastic It is aggressive contains plenty of distortion and ends the song on a tremendous high note.

The solos here are all melodic, at times shred-like and always have a wonderful sense of timing, much like the excellent work of Jonathan Donais (Shadows Fall). They leap out from the music like a cheetah towards a Thompson’s Gazelle but always match the music and are never masturbatory in nature.

The rhythm section of John Outcalt on bass guitar and Corey Pierce on the drum set also plays a large part in the heavy successful mixture as seen on the dominant track “The Rain

This is a very well balanced album though as there are several parts that feature the bands softer side through the use of gentle serene passages. A great example is the first minute of the title track, and the first thirty seconds on the albums’ opener “The Discovery” that features a piano/string arrangement.

Well folks there you have it, this is a killer band set to take over the world, go buy this outstanding album, it is highly recommended.

Label:  Century Media

Band Members:
Byron Davis -Vocals
Doc Coyle -Guitar
Dallas Coyle -Guitar
John Outcalt -Bass
Corey Pierce -Drums

Track Listing:
1.The Discovery
2.The Rain
3.Empire of the Gun
4.War of Attrition
5.The New Clear
6.Shallow
7. Walk Alone
8.Bat the Angels
9.Earthsblood
10.Gaia (The Vultures)

Hardrock Haven rating: 8.6/10