CD Reviews:  Page 22

Artist: God Forbid

Album: Reject The Sickness

Label: 9 Volt

The Review: Combine hardcore style vocals with the melodic sounds of dark metal and you will be introduced to this disc brought to you by God Forbid.  The CD itself it a decent mix of songs that at times can be a little chaotic yet stick to a particualr flow which is quite enjoyable.  The lyrics are a bit nu-metal here and there resolving around the death of close ones and fighting off hatred.  What it boils down to is this disc will please a mix of folks into many different genres ranging from chaos metal to dark metal to hardcore.  Other than that, hats off to this growing band that is not afraid to mix styles and try new things.

Recommended Radio Friendly Tracks: 1,4,5,6,8,9

Overall Grade: B- to B+ MTPF 9/18/00

Artist: Lamb Of God

Album: New American Gospel

Label: Metal Blade

The Review: I guess the Pantera heavy chugging riff thing is bigger than ever.  (Maybe they are an influence to more bands than they are getting credited for.)  Lamb of God only steps it up a notch by taking those elements found in Pantera's music such as twisted guitar solos, ballsy vocals, and mean sounding bass lines and make them better by adding more aggression to them.  Every track proves to be a head pounding non-stop riff fest.  It often gets to the point of a pseudo death metal release in parts but pretty much keeps to a hard as s**t metal core theme.  Perhaps the most impressived work on the disc comes with with the drums which often stand out more than the guitars.  The opening to track 9 (Confessional) is a perfect example of this providing beats that sound like a fast person working on a typewriter.  This band originally started 1999 and already  have found the path that is sure to bring them success on the metal core trail.  The most important thing is that they may have stepped on several tracks that other bands before them have left but went on their own track which in metal is important now a days.


Recommended Radio Friendly Tracks: 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9

Overall Grade:   B+ MTPF 9/18/00

Artist: Headshot

Album: Headshot

Label: Burn Out

The Review: Wow...somebody was influenced by Alice In Chains and Staind to the point of it being a clone!  This CD really is kinda rockin' in parts but I couldn't help but ask myself, "Why am I getting into this?"  After all...if I wanted to hear this stuff I could have resorted back to my AIC tapes.  So...what can you expect from this band?  A lot of grindy guitar work mixed with distorted bass lines.  The vocals are about as nu-metal a s nu-metal gets.  Other than that, theres nothing really else to say about this CD.

Recommended Radio Friendly Tracks: 1, 2, 3, 5

Overall Grade: C- MTPF 9/22/00

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