Search - God Forbid :: Sickness & Misery

Great Reissue Of Lost Material

Joel Israel | Cedar City, UT United States | 11/24/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I have been a huge God Forbid fan since "Gone Forever" and the amazing "IV: Constitution Of Treason", and have since been in search of their back catalog....this new release combines two early EP's into one complete package, making this release an excellent value at over an hour of music and a raging torrent of heaviness and angst. Highly recommended, ecspecially the first half of the "dual" release, containing "Reject The Sickness". God Forbid have never released a bad album; even this early material stands toe to toe with any modern metal band out there....this band combines pure agression and heaviness with social commentary and progressive tendencies to create intense, angry and dark music any metal fan would dig. Now could we please have album #5?"

80% Thrash 10% Death 10% Progressive - All brutal and creati

Scott Rodriguez | Lakewood, CO United States | 08/19/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I've been a pretty big God Forbid fan ever since Determination came out and I saw them in concert live. I can't remember who they opened up for, but they were electrifying. Determination had some horrible one pitch monotonous vocals, but the music was great. Then came Gone Forever which was one of the best thrash albums put out that year. They stepped up their songwriting, and the vocals were fine tuned. Clean vocals provided a nice change from the growls, but the riffs were aggressive and with the added creativity, Gone Forever was an instant classic.



I was pretty hyped for Constitution of Treason, but for some reason was somewhat disappointed in it. It seemed lackluster. Still worth buying and better than most bands nowadays, but CoT just wasn't as exhilarating as I was expecting.



This brings us to Sickness and Misery. I saw this at the local Best Buy, and didn't know if it was a new release, or a re-issue. I freaking hate it when bands re-issue old songs with new artwork....because I feel duped into thinking it's new material, just to get in the car and learn it's old stuff. Old stuff usually equals bad stuff! Lol. So it was my birthday, I love God Forbid, so I just bought it. Sure enough...when I got in the car I saw that the dates for these songs were all old songs. DUPED AGAIN!!!



I put it in with a feeling of dread...a feeling of wasted $13. As much as I wanted to not like the old material...it immediately grabbed me. This is good stuff!! I would say this is the second best God Forbid CD next to Gone Forever. The guitars are a little dirty because the production isn't as clean (what can you expect with older material), but the songwriting is awesome. There's much more oomph and brutality to the music that isn't on their new stuff. The riffs are non-stop. Actually, the guitars and overall tone sound a little on the death side of metal. There are no clean vocals at all...this is heavy stuff. I would say it's mostly thrash, but some death, some crazy Dillenger Escape Plan moments, and a dash of progressive. I say progressive because there are lots or tempo changes. Every song doesn't sound like each other...which is always a good thing.



The vocals still stink for the most part lol...but that's metal I guess. This was before the lead singer learned to change pitch some. Thankfully they rely on music, and not vocals to carry the song. I really would recommend this for fans of thrash/death. Imagine God Forbid today, only heavier and more brutal. I really wish they would just have remade the songs using today's production sound...then it really would have smoked nd been more crisp...but then maybe it would lose it's edge. This older material doesn't sound dated and holds up extremely well.



Worth buying if you're a fan of God Forbid or creative thrash mixed with some death sounds. They really are a unique band that you can tell makes an effort into writing good riffs and sounds.

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