Review by Saxy S for God Forbid - Gone Forever (2004)

I was first introduced to the band God Forbid at Mayhem Festival 2009 when myself and some of my more metal friends took the trip across the border from Ontario to Michigan. We had been to Mayhem Festival the previous year when they visited closer to home, but this time we had to do some cross border shenanigans. They played the same stage as Trivium and All That Remains; both bands I was quite familiar with ahead of time. I thought "oh cool a new American metalcore band to dive into. Then I listened to the music and was immediately turned off.

Don't get me wrong, I do think that GF (God Forbid) had talent, but one listen to Gone Forever and you could tell that this band wasn't performing at full capacity. They could write solid hooks and the overall compositions were thoroughly constructed, but to expand these concepts beyond the initial honeymoon phase, God Forbid transforms into a painfully generic melocore band. Like those bands who played Mayhem Festival with GF in 2009, they would use decent song structures, breakdowns did not serve as interjections, and they could write an above average chorus. Unlike Trivium and All That Remains, this consistency does not pan out for an entire album. "Antihero" and "Force-Fed" start the album quite strong, but by the time we get to "Soul Engraved", "Judge the Blood" or even earlier songs like "Precious Life" you can see that the well runs dry fast.

And it isn't helped at all by the clean vocals. If they had ditched the clean vocals entirely, Gone Forever could have been an above average 2000s melocore record. But GF's clean vocals are so sheepish and non-committal. It's the kind of raspy singing you expect to hear out of Rob Flynn. Similar metalcore bands would have clean singing also, but those vocals were a clear counterpoint to the harsh screams; whether it be dual vocal acts like The Devil Wears Prada or Alexisonfire, or the rare vocalist that could do both by themselves (i.e. Howard Jones, Matt Heafy). On Gone Forever, GF are trying to cash in on a trend to get popular, but can't even do it correctly.

If Gone Forever sounded closer to an Unearth album like The Oncoming Storm or III: In The Eyes of Fire without any clean vocals, we might be telling a different tale. That still wouldn't change how this album loses momentum halfway through, but at least it would be slightly more tolerable to listen to. God Forbid fall into the singles band territory, where their best songs are the ones promoted by the record label and radio. After those however, you won't miss much.

Best Songs: Antihero, Washed Out World, Living Nightmare