By: Anders

Posted: May 26, 2006

God Forbid is one of the band's in the "New Wave Of American Heavy Metal" scene that has gotten a lot of attention, and one of the first, if not the first that came up with the before mentioned term. The music is also what is dubbed as metalcore, though somewhat more thrash-infused than many other bands delivering metalcore, and at times more hard-hitting.

This, the band's fourth album, is divided into 3 "Articles", the "Twillight Of Civilization" part, the "In The Darkest Hour, There Was One" part and the last part "Devolution". The album tells a tale about politics and religion, a story which easily can be translated into certain historic periods of our own history and the current state, as well into our daily lives and everyday situations. The lyrical side of the album is in fact very interesting and can be interpreted in many ways. The musical side of the album provides a great soundtrack for the story, the 2 sides of the album are really well intertwined and offers a lot of time of listening and interpreting.

Musically we get a slap in our face, the band is aggressive and delivers their metal in a way that goes straight to the head. Aggressive and effective mainriffs, still melodic at times, but mostly with a good deal of thrashy hardcore influences. The melodies aren't forgotten and we are getting our dose of melodic leads and blistering solos, the blend of straight ahead riffing and leads are well balanced. The songs are written in a way so they contain a hell of a lot of heavy and groovy hooks, it is easy to be caught into the whirlwind of most of the songs on the album. The compositions on the album are as such clever made, a good mix of brutal modern thrash, melodic pieces, and both calm atmospheric pieces and darker more sinister ones. The music is lead by the guitars, but the good and driving drumming, which mostly delivers its beats mid-tempo, has a big part in the dynamics of the band.

After a few spins "IV Constitution Of Treason" shows itself as a good and lasting album. The album is driven forth by sheer power and good dynamics, together with a good and atmospheric grip and a good "story-line". I'm sure all fans of the band will go ape-shit over this album and put God Forbid back on the throne. The disc is a dual-disc, so on top of the music, we do also get a "the making of…" DVD. These are always a good treat for fans, and we get to follow the band from the early stages of the material for the album coming together, to the recording to the mixing and even a glimpse of the mastering process. The detailed view on the recording of the guitars, the long run with the mixing and the mastering bit, will sure turn on a lot of tech fans and might give many an insight in, how such are handled and what exactly is going on, in the different stages.

Rating: 7½/10

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