From the icy dark winter lands of Belfast, Ireland comes ForChristSake bringing the death metal. Ok, so Belfast is not typically known for being icy, dark, and wintery, but then again it’s not particularly known for death metal either. Either way, ForChristSake hails from Belfast and they are certainly a melodic death metal band with a bit of thrashy influence. The band started in 2008 and after 18 months of practice and rehearsing, went in and recorded the Death is But a Breath Away ep before heading out to start playing shows. Now for 2014, ForChristSake is releasing their first very full length album Apocalyptic Visions of Divine Terror. I say, “very” full length as it’s a monstrous 16 tracks and over 72 minutes of their blend of melodic death/thrash/symphonic metal. In all truth, this album is a lot to digest due to its length. Buyers will certainly be getting a good value, no worries about paying full price for a short album here.
To provide a preview of what’s in store for the listener, the band cites influences covering everything from Deliverance, Gojira, and Crimson Thorn to Drottnar and Horde. Actually getting the recording completed proved to be a bit of a challenge as the first recording engineer “caused some problems” and had to be replaced, which delayed things a bit, which must have been quite an ordeal for a band recording a debut album. After some searching, the band found a studio they were comfortable with and managed to complete the album. The band itself, embraces both the “Christian band” and “Christians in a band” labels and aims for their music and lyrics to reflect their walk with and light of Christ with lyrics and music complementing each other and displaying the message of Christ.
Apocalyptic Visions of Divine Terror starts out innocently enough with the instrumental track “Blackened Lands”. There are some keyboards to provide some atmosphere and a sense of foreboding as you know the metal will start at some point, and when they do you have some marching drums, searing guitar solos and some choir like background singing to provide a symphonic touch. All in all it serves as a good intro and provides some insight as to what to expect on the rest of album, at least to a point.
“Blackened Lands” leads right into “The Hollow Way of Thinking” which starts with blast beats and a rumbling wall of sound rhythm section. The majority of vocals throughout the album remind me a bit of older Mortification in terms of tone and delivery, which is a bit different than expected but does work well with the music. Unfortunately, a lot of the excellent drum work is somewhat buried within that rumbling rhythm section, where it is difficult to discern individual instruments and from my view the vocals are a bit too prominent in the mix.
From a listener standpoint, one has to invest a good bit of time and attention to this album as it is a bit different than most death metal albums I have heard. Given the length of the album and some songs, one may think this is more along the lines of a progressive death metal effort, but that is not quite how I would choose to describe it. I hear more of a chaoscore like approach, where multiple styles and elements appear in the same song, often with somewhat abrupt transitions. Think of Norma Jean or the Chariot if they played death metal with the same approach the currently employ. Often within the same song there will be a shift to and from thrash, death, melodic death, black, and symphonic metal at irregular intervals. Just when you think you have a grasp of the structure a change you often didn’t predict happens. I found myself liking bits and pieces of the songs while certain sections didn’t seem to work for me. This carries through the entire album. The musicianship is there and I always love hearing good guitar solos and there are plenty here, but the arrangements and structure left me scratching my head from time to time.
Overall, this is a great effort for a debut album in terms of quantity and quality of the musicianship and the band show great promise. This is definitely a band to keep an eye on and if they continue to progress in terms of bringing a more cohesive sound to the songs they will be a force to be reckoned with.
Rating: 6.5/10
Track listing:
01 – Blackened Lands
02 – The Hollow Way of Thinking
03 – Leech
04 – At the Gates of Depravity
05 – Deliver us From Evil
06 – Last Call
07 – Shadow
08 – Serpent Rising
09 – Red Moon
10 – Walk Among the Dead
11 – Necronemesis
12 – Inhalation Asphyxia
13 – Deification
14 – Inferno
15 – Apocalyptic Visions of Divine Terror
16 – The Dawn of a New Day
Band Members:
Ignatios – Drums & Lead vocals
Mark – 6 String bass
Simon – Lead Guitar and Backing vocals
Ben – Lead vocals and Rhythm guitars
Albums:
“Death is but a Breath Away” EP [2010]
“Apocalyptic Visions of Divine Terror” [2014]
Record label: Roxx Records, Jan. 2014
Weblinks: Facebook / Myspace / Website / Twitter
Buy the album here:
Holland: First Paradox
Norway: Nordic Mission
USA: Metal Helm
Video below “Apocalyptic Visions of Divine Terror” [Album Teaser]