Search - Forsaken :: Arts of Desolation

Superb Release by an Under-Rated Band

Azrael | Lake Forest, CA USA | 02/13/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Despite their amazing talent, The Forsaken aren't picked up on the radar much by the majority of the death (and Swedish death) metal scene. Why is this? I have absolutely no ... idea. This band is far superior than most of the newer efforts out there in the scene these days, and this album shows just how much these guys have learned from the great death metal bands of old.With the release of "Arts of Desolation", this band has honed their skills from "Manifest of Hate" to create an incredibly more precise, incredibly more diverse album. They took the best parts from songs such as 'Seer's Hatred' and 'Truth of God' from their debut and elaborated on them to create, by far, one of the best death metal releases of 2002. It can't be mistaken that this band is, at heart, a Swedish metal band, but they took the Swedish sound to a whole new level by adding a very, VERY heavy dose of traditional, blistering death metal in the vein of Morbid Angel and Suffocation. This is sort of like what you'd get if you took Arch Enemy or The Haunted and made them a REAL death metal band in the traditional sense. For someone looking for a modern, refreshing dose of death metal goodness, look no further than this album. "Arts of Desolation" contains awesome blastbeats, blazing guitars throughout the entire disc (including some GREAT solos!), thundering bass, and absolutely scorching vocals. Why this band hasn't received more accolade for their release of this album is beyond my comprehension. 'The Hatebreed', 'Injected Terror' and 'Human Chapter X' are some of my favorites, but ALL of this album rocks. The bonus track 'Human Prey' is also very cool. I VERY HIGHLY recommend this to anyone looking for a great Swedish sound with a much, MUCH heavier dose of traditional death metal. The Forsaken are a force to be reckoned with, and this album proves that."

DEATH F@#$%NG METAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

bay_area_thrasher | the middle of the pit | 12/24/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Yeah, I know that was a litte over the top but that's how enthusiastic I am about this exciting new Swedish band. I am surprised at how underrated these guys are. I like relatively newer bands such as Arch enemy, Children of Bodom, and Opeth and I think that The forsaken could easily fit in with the afformentioned bands as far as greatness goes. The forsaken's mix of brutal/technical Death metal and Melodic Death metal is perfected on all of their albums (which, as of this writing, covers two albums). The music is loaded with hooks (I've got "Embedded insanity" stuck in my head right now!) and Anders Sjoholm has an excellent agressive voice. These cats have definetly done their homework.The future looks good for quality Death metal! ROCK HARD AND BANG THE HEAD THAT DOESN'T BANG!"

Some of the best (and least known) Metal out there

alyidaho | Boise, ID USA | 03/03/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I haven't written a CD review in a long, long time. But I felt like I had to here. I am a lifelong metal fan, but recently I was really hungry for some new, good quality metal. I feel like I am extremely picky about what I like, in fact I would say that I personally feel that only three metal bands out there currently deserve the "god" like status that so many metal fans attribute to almost anything that moves. Because if that.. I find it hard to find metal the really moves me.After many days of hard searching, I heard about the forsaken. It was really difficult to get my hands on any audio samples, but I finally did. It only took me a couple listens to a couple tracks to convince me I had found something worth buying. I bought both this album and their previous album. Now that I have both full albums to listen to, I have to be honest: I am totally blown away by the incredibly quality of this music. This band easily deserves to be mentioned alongside the other three bands I believe are the most talented in metal today. This is without a doubt, some of the best death metal I've ever heard in my life. What is so fantastic about it is how diverse and catchy virtually all the songs are. Every song has clear direction, flow, and even melody. The production quality is great - by that I primarily mean that the mix between guitars, bass, drums and vocals is crisp and clear, nothing drowns out anything else, even at the bands most chaotic moments. The guitar solos are particularly fascinating. Many of them take on the style of a classically trained guitarist. The common stereotypical direction I'm expecting a solo to go never happens. Another beautiful thing about this CD is that it masterfully the best points of Swedish metal and the best points of more guitar driven power metal (think Arch Enemy) and places both of those styles under the dominating flag of Death metal. Overall I can truly say that I have not been this impressed with a new album in probably years. Simply incredible stuff."