Review of The Forsaken - Manifest of Hate

About six months ago or so I was heavily caught up in one of my frequently furious searches for some new metal for my brain to devour. I looked no further than Century Media Records to lead the way. When I entered their website, the first thing to cross my line of sight was an album cover (Manifest Of Hate) and a short little description of Metal Review's latest featured band, The Forsaken. To sum it up, Century described them as a Swedish melodic death metal band in the vein of At The Gates, Arch Enemy and Morbid Angel. Now, how could any metalhead in their right mind (are there any?) not be intrigued by that statement. Some may consider "melodic death metal" as being overly used these days, but this metalhead bought into it immediately. Due to the fact that I'm uncontrollably addicted to buying CD after CD at a record setting pace, I broke down and ordered this disc. Upon arrival at my home a couple of weeks later I was anxiously looking forward to checking the mailbox to see if my new disc had arrived. I opened the door to the box and found two things. My newest disc and a bill from Visa, who I might add has helped me considerably on my road to this dreadful disease of purchasing metal upon metal. Horrible isn't it? Anyway, I remember opening up the package right away and throwing Manifest Of Hate in my car's disc player and being floored instantaneously. Why you ask? Because this disc starts to kick some serious ass from the beginning of the first song all the way to the end. After the first song I could see where Century was coming from when they mentioned At The Gates and Morbid Angel, but the Arch Enemy comparison threw me off a little bit. Although I love both bands, Arch Enemy is mild compared to The Forsaken. The sound these guys are striving for definitely touches on the melodic side of things, but it's not a slow and pretty melodic. The melodies come across very evilistic and the riffs are fast. By no means are these guitarists playing happy sounding parts. Stefan Holm and Patrik Persson share a guitar sound that in my opinion compares to the King/Hanneman sound and reminds me of the intelligently masterful playing style of Chuck Schuldiner. I assure you that the "trickety picketing" performance by this duo is right up there with the best in the game. Holding up the rear is Nicke Grabowski who comes out of nowhere and infects today's metal scene with a style that cuts through the room like a buzzsaw. His cymbal work is brilliant, he abuses the toms and kicks with might and his all around professional playing ability earns him one of my top picks for drumming performance of the year. Anders Sjoholm is the man behind the microphone with a death voice that will please any and all true death metalheads. His sound contains aggressive rampages and deeply toned growls. Another thing that impresses me is when I read along with the lyrics I notice that he speaks his words clearly. A lot of singers will just get up there and spew out sounds that are actually words. The last element in this debut release is the performance by former bass player Michael Hakansson. Although it's not the bass performance of the year, it does fit the sound. If I haven't convinced you that this disc should be in your collection, than I highly doubt I can be blamed. You may just need to take a chance and in the end you'll see that I was right. If you suffer from the same disc buying disease that I do, than Manifest Of Hate belongs at the top of your list. Favorite Track: Deamon Breed

Sweden without a doubt has developed right into the Metal Mecca of the world. What grunge was to Seattle, Metal is to Sweden. You ask why I even mention such a blasphemous town as Seattle and the music to which it offered to "generation X"? Where one three cord wielding junkie dressed in his finest redneck attire almost single handily snuffed out the North American Metal scene. Which brings me right to my theory as to why he actually killed himself… HE REALIZED WHAT HE ALMOST DID! You ask why I even bring this shit up? Well since you asked. Just the other day I was reminiscing back to the early 90's when times were rough and Metal was ever so stifled. I remember going to a Metal Church show with the turnout being less than 100 hundred people. It was a sad day and the first moment as to when I realized what a strong hold that foking grunge shit had. Not long after we lost our cherished Headbangers Ball. Was there no humanity? Times were rough my friend. Iron Maiden playing clubs with 1000-1500 people capacities. People listening to there metal in dark basements like foking trolls. The hay day of thrash and speed metal banished like a leper. The only good thing that came out of it was that the true metal fans had a pillar in which to stand. We were going nowhere and fok your trendy ass shit because we would stand by our integrity and by our metal, united by the common bond of demanding more out of our music than, three cord, bridge, chorus bullshit songwriting. Well I ask the question, where's your foking grunge now? Just how long did you grind the axe? Just long enough to get a Behind the Music out of it I guess. Now I ask where is you metal now? Foking everywhere, right! Unscathed by the ultimate metal virus that was grunge. The only thing grunge did accomplish was extinguishing Glam metal. Which was needed indeed. To play the devil's advocate though I am sure there is some dude out there with the same angst towards grunge that I have but his argument lies solely in the fact that grunge did kill his precious Poison. Back to Sweden, the Metal Haven for just to name a few, great bands like In Flames, Dark tranquility, Soilwork, and The Forsaken. Sweden relentlessly delivers the goods time and time again. Is it in their water, is it in the air they breathe, what the hell is it? I need to know, because I want a fix right now, none of that between the toes shit either. Century and Nuclear are all too quick to sign your ass even if you live in a suburb of Sweden. I want that contract. Who wouldn't? I suppose somewhere around here I should get to the album of dissection. The Forsaken's Manifest of Hate. Here we go again, The Forsaken do of course deliver the goods. The Swe-Death good name still intact. Powerful guitar attacks, blast beats from hell, punishing vocals and of course a top notch production via Abyss studios. Would you expect any less? I know I don't. The Forsaken follow all great Swedish bands right to a tee. Power, speed, crush and a relentless need to beat you down. Once again my sights lie in the excellent drumming. The precision of Nicke Grabowski's drumming performance is superior. His concentrated grace and delivery is astounding. Double kicks assault your inner self with a vengeance of velocity. Supreme drumming, the ultimate cornerstone of Millennium Metal. Bottom Line: Get your own foking website, so you too can rant about whatever the fok you want to!

Release Details

The Forsaken

Manifest of Hate

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