Sunday 15 May 2011

Forged of Flesh - Overthrow the Kingdom


A couple of weeks ago now, I was contacted by Jon Baldizon, lead singer of up and coming US Death metal band Forged of Flesh, who told me that they had released an album and wanted people to check it out. He also told me that the bands CD release show was played alongside 3 Inches of Blood and Skeletonwitch, so that made me take even more notice.

To give you a bit a background about the band, they formed in the middle of 2010, ready to unleash their take on death metal on the unsuspecting metalheads far and wide. Forged of Flesh is made up of Jon Baldizon on Vox, Dustin Taberski on Drums, Abomb on Bass and Guitarists Matt Slomski and Rex Gard.


The album itself begins with a intro of piano and strings to build the atmosphere for the listener before jumping into the first track proper Wrapped in undead flesh. The band then move into the straight up blasting drums and rasping vocals that death metal in renowned for. The guitars are crunching before moving into a really good solo about halfway into the song. The double bass comes thick and fast, and helps add to the sense of battery you get from the band. Third track The End All starts at a slightly more sedate pace before moving into nice sweeping leads and almost modern Swe-death vocals. This is reminiscent of what Trivium would have sounded like if they had stayed heavy, but that's a lazy comparison as Forged of Flesh are a much heavier prospect. Fourth track Fight the Hordes, starts with an almost folk metal riff and it is the first time the bands power metal vocals come to the attention of the listener. They are not overused, so don't become cheesy and actually add to the music. They also employ more guitar solo's to add variety to the song.  

The Ash Engulfs the Sun is the fifth track on Overthrow the Kingdom, and the band employ singing here to change the pace slightly before moving into sixth track, With Blood Stained Blades. With this track, the band moves back into bludgeoning mode, but the fact the vocals are not low in the register like most death metal seems to be, makes it more enjoyable and the solo shows the dexterity of the guitarists. The European influenced touches are nice to hear and show that Forged of Flesh want to appeal to a wide range of listeners. Track seven, Cry Havoc shows off more of the bands musicianship and proves that they clearly have a more diverse set of influences than your average death metallers. The kick drumming at the start is almost mesmerizing at times. Final track, To The Depths starts with an almost Egyptian sounding riff before moving into a more galloping section. The pace then picks up again for one final blast and a frenetic close to the album, containing another sweeping, wailing solo and a constant battery from the rhythm section.


Overall, Forged of Flesh are a really great band and Overthrow the Kingdom is an album varied enough that it makes you wonder how long it'll be before these guys start getting wider attention.

If you want to check them out, head over to their Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/forgedofflesh or their Myspace page at http://www.myspace.com/forgedofflesh. You can listen to the song they've posted and if you like what you hear, head over to their BigCartel page at http://forgedofflesh.bigcartel.com and pick up a copy of the album or buy some merch.

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