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God Forbid - IV: Constitution Of Treason review



Reviewer:
7.7

93 users:
8.01
Band: God Forbid
Album: IV: Constitution Of Treason
Release date: September 2005


01. The End Of The World
02. Chains Of Humanity
03. Into The Wasteland
04. The Lonely Dead
05. Divinity
06. Under This Flag
07. To The Fallen Hero
08. Welcome To The Apocalypse (Preamble)
09. Constitution Of Treason
10. Crucify Your Beliefs
11. We Are No More [Japanese bonus]

Looking back on this album fifteen years later, you can either laugh or cry, little did the band know what was to come.

God Forbid's fourth release is a concept album that saw the band embrace the topic of civilization collapse, re-emergence and inevitable collapse again. A noble idea and luckily one that doesn't get bogged down in exposition or tying its colours to a political mast. The band challenge themselves on this record and they manage to make a success of things, IV: Constitution Of Treason is a strong album, even if it wasn't a smash hit.

The band blended metalcore and thrash sounds together into one strong melting pot; listen to the intro of "The Lonely Dead" to get a good idea of what this mix sounds like. Thrash riffs are channeled through a metalcore sieve while the sounds alternate as to which is the main foundation of a track. "The Lonely Dead" is a metalcore track with some thrash riffs, while "To The Fallen Hero" is a thrash song with metalcore elements.

Where the band hit their stride is on tracks like "Divinity" and "Into The Wasteland", where you are aware of the storytelling nature of such tracks, but the songs remain metal hits first and foremost rather than stepping stones towards the conclusion of a story.

The band excel themselves on this album; the Coyle brothers' guitar work is a highlight for much of the album, walking the bridge between thrash and metalcore with ease while never losing sight of the main goal, namely writing and playing kick-ass riffs. Davis' vocals go hand in glove with the music behind him; he can soar when required or spit razor blades when the music calls for it. Outcalt adds a lot while never stepping into the spotlight, his rumbling bass serving as a gut punch while you are looking up and are caught unaware.

The band do fall foul of a common shortcoming with concept records; how do you advance a narrative without bogging a song down with storytelling? The band take the road of having a loose narrative; while each song flows into each other with a rough theme, you are left to fill in a lot of the blanks yourself. Depending on which side of the fence you face, this is either a blessing or a curse; given the thematic nature rather than explicit story-driven conceptual nature of the album, the band sidestep this issue but it serves to leave only a big question mark in its place.

Some songs do seem to drag themselves out too long though, with "Under This Flag" losing its way long before the song comes to an end. While the band take aim at creating a grandiose epic, the song meanders its way to a conclusion once it passes the halfway mark.

If you're a fan of metalcore but not thrash then, a) what the hell is wrong with you, and b) this album will serve as the perfect conduit into familiarising yourself with the genre without going in on the deep end. IV: Constitution Of Treason may not go down as a Nostradamus prophecy in history, but it's a fun listen and well worth your time.


Rating breakdown
Performance: 8
Songwriting: 7
Originality: 7
Production: 7

Written by omne metallum | 16.05.2020




Guest review disclaimer:
This is a guest review, which means it does not necessarily represent the point of view of the MS Staff.


Comments

Comments: 2   Visited by: 8 users
16.05.2020 - 19:22
Coconut Racecar

I never bought a whole lot of physical albums when I was younger ( although I do buy many, many digital albums today ), but this was one of the few I did, and still love.

Nice to see it being brought up in 2020 because I still think it's a great album. Good review and thanks for giving me something to listen to today!

Unrelated - the band Divinity released their first album "Allegory" in 2008, a few years after this band and one I also saw live. They're not quite the same, but there are definitely a lot of similarities. If you haven't checked them out and you like this album, you definitely should!
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25.05.2020 - 11:35
omne metallum

Thank you, when I flick through my collection and see the cover art it takes me back haha.

I will check them out, thanks for the recommendation
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Just because I'm not listening doesn't mean I don't care
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