God Forbid - Determination (2001)^{Release ID: 6248}

So after God Forbid released their first album Reject the Sickness which is so unknown that barely anyone has listened to it, and even then it sounds so poor quality and the instrumentation and vocals are so messed up that it deserves to stay unknown, did this band give up? No way! They did their second attempt in making an album and the end result is Determination, an album much better than the cruddy debut, though a few details would be better fixed.

God Forbid made an album that I would consider their real debut. They knew much better what they've been doing and handled their metal with care, from beautiful to crushing, from melodic to dissonant. Their solos and breakdowns rule the metalcore world in anger.

I love the intro, "Dawn of the Millennia". It's a good flowing pump-up to what's coming next. Then "Nothing" gives you a p*ssed flying kick in the face! Byron Davis' furious vocals alongside the pummeling music really shows you what a solid album Determination is gonna be. If you thought that song is heavy and dissonant, listen to the next one "Broken Promise". It's so f***ing heavy, combining the more brutal influences from chaotic extreme metalcore bands like Converge and The Dillinger Escape Plan. You can very well hear those influences in the great breakdowns, along with the overall intense chaos. "Divide My Destiny" is more melodic while staying heavy, here delivering different influences from Gothenburg melodeath bands like At the Gates and In Flames.

Both of those metalcore and melodeath influences are mixed in "Network". After a transition from the previous track and a clean intro, the brutal dissonance starts again, then they add in melodic riffs and solos. More of this style switching continues beautifully in this album, especially in the wicked next track "Wicked", which mixes metalcore rhythms with melodeath leads. The second half of the album heads into full melodeath territory while keeping some metalcore elements, starting with "Determination Part 1". The best song here is "Determination Part 2", which even though the vocals are more spoken than growled, the nice little acoustic intro highlights the band's melody.

Returning to their decent venture through heaviness is "Go Your Own Way", which is OK but there are so many ideas in here that don't fit well together and end up being overplayed too hard. That song does its best when they have their fast thrash feel because the drums keep the fills down to give the riffing necessary space for the listener's attention. The general problem in the instrumental "God's Last Gift" is, while it returns to the earlier metalcore instrumentation, it would work better with more powerful drumming and the usual vocals, but that would make this song sound too much like Mastodon at that time. "A Reflection of the Past" is kinda like the acoustic outro for "God's Last Gift", though it probably shouldn't have been separated into its own track. "Dead Words on Deaf Ears" is the 6-minute closer of the album and probably the band's farthest away from metalcore into melodeath. Great ending! Thank you, God Forbid, for not fading it out halfway through.

If you're a fan of pummeling melodic metalcore, this is a good album for you. God Forbid can punch you hard with brutal breakdowns then massage your ears with beautiful solos, all in a natural flow. The songs are in perfect order, as if they're an entire musical concept. Once you listen to this whole thing, you know how determined this band is....

Favorites: "Nothing", "Broken Promise", "Wicked", "Determination Part 2", "Dead Words on Deaf Ears"