### Forlorn: The rotting

#### 28/10/10 || The Duff

Lord K stated this was “metal”, and alarm bells should have been ringing my feet to the floor; indeed, they were, from a man/beast of the swamps who thinks “Stabbing the Drama” is a good album, but one thing overtook my attention for warning signs when glancing over the description provided by Chief Billy Gibbons. These guys are from England, and fuck me lengthways if I ever pass up an opportunity to rip into such a shithole of a country; Eastenders, beans, football-battery and throwing stones at gays, Asians and nondescript busty models, the country’s non-cerebral entertainments have since the eighties often eradicated any possibility of good metal, or “metal” for that matter, originating from its soils.

I usually take three months to a year to write about claimed albums, and I think my delay in covering Forlorn has happened for a reason; see, I’d brand them “metal”, but then I heard Malevolent Creation’s latest, “Invidious Dominion”, and I’m thinking if one is death metal, why can’t the other be too? See, Forlorn are actually better than recent Malevolent Creation; I’m enjoying this more than “Invidious Dominion”, despite the opening riff something that would force many of you to cough up a testicle. The vocalist sounds almost identical to madman supreme and one of the scene’s most legendary and unique frontmen Brett Hoffman, but in a more screamy-throaty kinda way, a manner most unpopular with our kind of course, but comparison cannot be escaped.

Being a journo replete with integrity and professionalism (what’s that? A year to churn out a review of a claimed album? Jeeze, go to sleep already, Lord Billy Gibbons), it is more than the vocals that make Malevolent Creation spring to mind – the Floridian (or New Yorkese, depending on who you talk to) legendary outfit’s more chunky riffs can be found throughout “The Rotting”, and it fits in quite well. Otherwise it’s Slayer/hardcore/nu-metal-y cleans worship (Rising Records chance us some more), stock riffs mixed with temperate soloing. Yes, avoid this like the plague, but for a “metal” band, it’s really not so bad, and sheeeeit, more interesting than “Invidious Dominion”, for fuck’s sake! The musicianship is as such pretty good; death metal proficiency this ain’t, but more accomplished than most cluttering a scene none of us give a shit about anyways.

- Information
- Released: 2010
- Label: Rising Records
- Website: Forlorn MySpace
- Band
- James Morley: bass, vocals
- Ross Edgington: drums
- James Shaw: guitars, vocals
- Dan Brown: guitars, vocals

- Tracklist
- 01. The Rotting
- 02. Worlds End
- 03. Doomed
- 04. Vulcans Flame
- 05. Ferality
- 06. Floods Of Martyrdom
- 07. Victims Of Revenge
- 08. Battle Scarred
- 09. Crimson Star
- 10. This Wicked Sin