FORGED IN BLOOD
“FORGED IN BLOOD”
Album Review by Iron Mathew

8.5/10

Forged In Blood are a heavy metal band from Italy formed in 2008, dogged by many line-up changes in their formative years, eventually stabilising and releasing the four song demo, ‘Demo(n)14’ in 2014. The band have gained a loyal following, through constant touring and in 2018 are set to unleash their self titled debut album.

European style power metal bordering on the thrash metal genre, Forged In Blood deliver a very heavy brand of aggression laden metal. Opening with the ground shuddering ‘Rebellion, My Name’, the debut album from the Italian metallers is quickly into its stride. Hitting harder than a UFC champion, ‘Rebellion, My Name’ is a ferocious and savage opening salvo. Pace quickens as ‘For The Unborn’ launches forth at high velocity. Fast and furious, head banging of the violent nature will accompany this one. For me, German legends Rage have always delivered power metal with a thrash metal edge, with Forged In Blood looking to deliver the same kind of style, and with ‘For The Unborn’, they definitely succeed. The iconic sound of European style power metal comes forth in abundance with ‘Game Is On’. Highly infectious with a pulsating rhythm, ‘Game Is On’ is thunderous power metal at its very best. A highlight on the album is the absolute corker ‘Never Pay To Play’. Power, pace and groove all combine perfectly to create one of the best songs on offer. Everything about ‘Never Pay To Play’ is infectious and it’s a head bangers dream as it romps on.

For most of us power metal fans, we all know that a mellow, wandering guitar, crescendo building instrumental is gonna lead us to a lip smacking, smile inducing awesome song…’A Taste Of Heaven’ serves up that teaser, leading us into the big riffing and hard hitting ‘Fine Dark Line’. Majestic and epic, ‘Fine Dark Line’ is a gloriously melodic slab of power metal. Halfway through the album and not a single song skipped, a sign of an albums addictiveness. Blistering pace returns to the album in emphatic style with the furiously fast ‘Black Renegade’. Heads will be banging very hard as ‘Black Renegade’ races along, scorching the Earth as it hurtles by. ‘Aylan’s Eyes’ is the nearest the album gets to the traditional heavy metal sound. A thundering rhythm and NWOBHM buzz sounding guitars feature heavily as ‘Aylan’s Eyes’ gallops along.

Ferocious and fast, the album picks up velocity and speed as ‘It’s On The Blade’ explodes into life. The ferocity and aggression oozing from ‘It’s On The Blade’ is straight outta the thrash metal genre. The same can be said for ‘Holy Water’…lacking the speed of ‘It’s On The Blade’, ‘Holy Water’ combines the thrash metal mid tempo stomp of Megadeth with melodic hard rock. Never knowing which way the song will turn next, ‘Holy Water’ is a mystical journey of discovery. The album is brought to a close with the abrasive and thrash metal influenced ‘Catharsis’. Thundering along at pace, ‘Catharsis’ is a head banging end to a thoroughly enjoyable album.

Overall, a thundering power metal rampage, the debut album from Forged In Blood is head bangingly addictive and deserves to be played many more times than just the once.

TRACKLIST

Rebellion, My Name
For The Unborn
Game Is On
Never Pay To Play
A Taste Of Heaven
Fine Dark Line
Black Renegade
Aylan’s Eyes
It’s On The Blade
Holy Water
Catharsis

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