Equilibrium

God Forbid

My first exposure to the band came with the "Earthsblood", their fifth full-length album, and […]
By Vagelis "Vagelan" Tiflopoulos
April 2, 2012
God Forbid - Equilibrium album cover

My first exposure to the band came with the "Earthsblood", their fifth full-length album, and that was after the departure of Dallas Coyle in 2009. A part of GOD FORBID's fans are very unsatisfied with the change of their sound. My opinion is that each band's album is a unique Metalcore that takes the best elements of bands like Lamb of God and Machine Head and transform them to a newborn Metal child forbid from the God...

The main element behind the music of GOD FORBID is the attack of mentality while eventually leaving it in total chaos with no chance to grasp the extremity of what went on. As on the previous band's releases, there is no end for the flow of machine gun riffs and brutish grinds, no stop signs. The lyrics can sometimes have a political charge behind them but that is not the entire message. Certain songs have undertones of finding hope or finding the balance to being a human during struggles.

The album started with "Don't Tell Me What To Dream" a common band's song but nothing more... "My Rebirth",Doc Coyle took this song from hand, with his clean voice, and guided it to his own path, but something was still missing...I think that was Coyle.Coylecould sing melodies very well, and I feel the singing melodies have lost a lot of impact. Sometimes the melodies do not fit the same without that harmony on top of Coyle. Also present is the vocals are not as high volume as the rest of the album and get lost in the raging guitars and drums. "A Few Good Men" it blasted my face with its killing riffs. The album's finest for me was the next song. The "Scraping The Walls" was full of emotions and a touchy atmosphere made you to listen it again and again...

Though several boring tracks as "Conquer", the self-titled track and "Overcome", which  you want to skip immediately, we arrived to "Cornered" and "This Is Who I Am" the sound of GOD FORBID at last! The album continued in this tempo with "Move On" and "Pages" a mix of sweet technical abilities alongside a gory, aggressive manner. "Awakening" an instrumental progressive effort... and the last gasping breath before the cardiac arrest "Where We Come From" closed the album with the best way.

"Equilibrium" wasn't lesser nor better than early GOD FORBID manifestations of viciousness. It is a fine release, but I expected a bit more, maybe next time around.

6 / 10

Had Potential

"Equilibrium" Track-listing:

1. Don't Tell Me What To Dream
2. My Rebirth
3. A Few Good Men
4. Scraping The Walls
5. Conquer
6. Equilibrium
7. Overcome
8. Cornered
9. This Is Who I Am
10. Move On
11. Pages
12. Awakening
13. Where We Come From

God Forbid Lineup:

Byron Davis- Lead Vocals
Matt Wicklund - Rhythm Guitar
Doc Coyle - Lead Guitar, Clean Vocals
John "Beeker" Outcalt - Bass
Corey Pierce - Drums

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