Album Review :
Forfeit Thee Untrue - Blood Soaked Splinter

Artist: Forfeit Thee Untrue

Album: Blood Soaked Splinter

Label: Sanctus Gladius Records

Release Date: 04/16/2013

Reviewer: John Magelssen

Tracklisting:

1. Blood Soaked Splinter
2. Screaming In Silence
3. Forfeit
4. Grace Covered Sin
5. Seven
6. Screaming In Silence (Suicide Note)
7. Grace Covered Sin (Home Recording)
8. Seven (Home Recording)

Forfeit Thee Untrue is a unique, four-piece band, hailing from South Africa. Mixing several genres together, they show a lot of diversity. It is very hard to mix so many genres together and make it solid. I am not sure they hit the mark on this, but they are certainly heading in the right direction. The sudden changes feel a little too abrupt at times however, I can say that the more that I listen to it, the more I like it. Drums are solid, guitars don’t sound very complex, but they fit this album well, and I enjoy the vocals. They’re very raw and remind me of a lot of bands’ first records that come out that I really loved before the bands became extremely well produced.

Jumping right into Blood Soaked Splinter, the first track is the title track “Blood Soaked Splinter,” which is a spoken word track mostly. It seems like it is a battle speech that is calling for people to come back to God. The track fades and the next track “Screaming in Silence” begins. I am not sold on the beginning of this track. It has a driving force to it, but I really start to enjoy the song after they do a break with clean guitars and come back in with the heavy verse. The screaming vocals remain around mids and highs a lot, but dig down every now and then to give a nice contrast. The clean vocals bothered me at first when listening to this song, but they have really grown on me. They are not high and whiney and they are not a weird Creed like southern voice. It is just a nice mid ranged singing voice. There is a small guitar solo at the end that just uses small three note arpeggios.

The next song is “Forfeit” and reminds me of a mixture of P.O.D. and Rammstein for the first part. It starts with clean guitars and a little whisper that suddenly ends and the Rammstein sounding driving force instantly blasts in. The changes in tempo are abrupt at first, but are nice and keep the music fresh. The clean parts feel a little out of place, but kind of work at the same time. It is a very odd contrast, but overall works for what this band did.

Overall: This band has potential and could really push the boundaries by using so many genres at their disposal. I feel like the transitions should become a little smoother in the future, but that the future looks bright for this young band. With time, practice, and experience, this band could grow to become a driving force for underground music.

RIYL: P.O.D., Demon Hunter