There has been a spurge of Melodic Death Metal bands in the recent years, though only few have achieved the popularity of AMON AMARTH, DARK TRANQUILLITY and others. FORCHRISTSAKE is another one of those bands with atmospheric melodies, headbanging riffs and phases of Brutal Death Metal in them. This is again a new band for me which I had never had heard before and the vocals remind me of Jeff Hogg because, the lyrics are audible and quit enjoyable  and also has a touch of Black Metal vocal feel to it as they touch upon some serious subjects like Christianity and Death and if one takes a closer look at the cover art you may notice that the central figure looks like Jesus and gives an idea what to expect inside and I guess with a band named as FORCHRISTSAKE, this is what it was supposed to be.

Interestingly the first song "Blackened Lands" doesn't have any lyrics in it and I was pleasantly surprised to find the song depending heavily on its atmospheric effect. The album is full of raw harsh riffs and occasionally head banging friendly juicy riffs and solos ,though has a lot of fast paced Brutal Death metal mix overall with a touch of Black Metal to it. The drums nicely compliment the harsh vocals and the guitars nicely. What separates this album from other Death Metal albums is that this one's got a mix of everything - the brutality, melodic stuff and head banging riffs and most importantly the production is kept raw and old school and not overly polished. The atmospheric elements throughout the album are amazing and it adds to whole experience when you listen to this album with headphones on, like I did.

With 16 songs in its kitty, the album takes you completely to its new dark filthy world, it runs like a speeding train in a smoky ice filled dark forest mountain, and wouldn't let you pull the chain until it finishes and add to that my hungry stomach while I was listening to this album. Speechless!!!. My favorite song of the album is song number 8 "Serpent Rising" where the band's best music comes to fore and the musicians let loose and express themselves completely and I couldn't help but air guitar and head bang to this one with the backing vocals making its presence felt and adding to the whole juicy experience. The backing vocals have clean crying vocals and definitely a key element in the album.

Overall, this is an excellent album for fans of multiple genres like Atmospheric Death Metal, Melodic Death and also to an extent should please Black Metal and Brutal Death Metal fans too. The only problem I have with this album is that sometimes the bass is unable to be heard and gets mixed up giving the overall feel of the music and the music itself is not catchy (though some may argue that it is due to the black and atmospheric feel of the album), but the amazing guitar work more than compensates for that and yeah the length of the album was not a problem for me!! And even the title track of more than 7 minutes is another great track that's worth mentioning.

These Belfast based Northern Irish guys have been around since 2001 and have already put up an EP ("Death Is But A Breath Away") way back in 2010 and I am sure just like me, not many would have even heard the name of the band till now. They have been signed to Roxx Records since their EP release .This album overall impresses me pretty much and is worth a listen and will be in my playlist for at least a few days if not more and I look forward to hearing more from them.