Band: ForChristSake
Title: Death Is But A Breath Away
Label: n/a
Release Date: 2010
Review By: Steve
Track Listing:
1. Psalm Of Repentance
2. Sleep
3. Cry Of The Martyrs
4. O
It is not often I get a review request from a band across the pond so when I was contacted by ForChristSake I jumped all over it. ForChristSake is a five-piece metal band out of Northern Ireland. They have just released their first EP entitled Death Is But A Breath Away and have already had some good reviews from Powerplay magazine and another webzine.
This EP really started to grow on me after the third or fourth spin in iTunes. ForChristSake’s version of metal kind of reminds me of Zao and maybe Extol too. The EP is a little raw on the production side but for me that gives the EP a little bit of character. A lot of stuff now a days is very overproduced so this was refreshing to listen to.
The first three songs start off with some slower chugging guitars and drumming and then the velocity is really turned up quite a bit to some great thrashing guitar work through out the rest of the tracks. The musicianship is well above average and the vocals are pretty good too. Guy, the vocalist, has a great range of high and low growls that are displayed in every track. Some rock/metal styled clean vocals are sprinkled here and there and compliment the growling excellently. Their lyrics cover a whole host of spiritual issues from mental torment to seeking forgiveness.
There really isn’t a bad track on the four-song EP. My favorite track would be “Sleep” because of the thrashing guitars and excellent drum work. There is also an excellent guitar solo at the end of the track. This EP may only be four tracks long, but all but one track are over five minutes long and the whole EP weighs in at just over 27 minutes. So you definitely get your money’s worth out of the EP. Another thing I really liked about this EP is it is kind of “old-school” in a way and reminded me of my younger days listening to Zao, Extol, and Living Sacrifice. It brought back some fond memories.
Overall: ForChristSake do a great job of putting some thrash back into metal. Death Is But A Breath Away is a little rough around the edges but if you are into some of the older Christian metal like Zao and Extol, you need to go check out ForChristSake. Their EP can be purchased through iTunes or at their shows if you happen to live in Ireland.