Review Summary: The Power of Three.
Huge riffs and solos make up the first two minutes of Forced Entry’s debut album
Uncertain Future, almost urging one to continue listening. It’s a great first impression for the band, but what’s the most impressive is how huge the band sounds considering they only consist of three members. One wouldn’t expect an obscure thrash trio from Seattle to possess such a demanding thrash sound, but the debut effort is a real face melter. It’s quite a feat for a band to form such an energetic thrash album with such few members, but Forced Entry is the home of three very talented musicians that prove to be just as competent as many of the genres finest thrashers.
Accompanying the album’s adrenaline fueled opener ‘Bludgeon’ are a nice set of vocals that are sure to please fans of Testament or Metallica. About half way into the song are some mammoth riffs that are nearly as big as the guitars on Master of Puppets, giving the song a classic thrash feel. Thankfully, the vocalist sounds unique enough to not risk sounding like just another Metallica clone, but there’s definitely a resemblance and his voice stands out nicely on the first track. It’s more aggressive and raspy than most of the album, which is another reason why the opening track is so successful.
The rest of the album manages to retain the “huge” thrash sound heard on the opening track, but also showcases a bit more creativity and some outstanding musicianship. You know the theme song for Jaws, where the song just gets faster and faster to create suspense? Well, this would be the best way to describe one of the albums most frightening tracks, ‘Anaconda’. It starts out slow and continues to pick up the speed, with drums and guitars that actually sound like the theme song from Jaws, which seems to be what they were going for. Either way, it thrashes harder than most of the album and all three band members display their talent well. From the noticeable bass in the song’s intro to the blistering solos and some of the most violent drums on the record, ‘Anaconda’ is thrash at its finest.
With only three members, Forced Entry have managed to create an album that towers over many bands in the genre. The bass stands out more than a lot of thrash bands and at times the riffs are just as enormous as the founders of thrash. The drums aren’t the most impressive I’ve ever heard, but they definitely get the job done especially on songs like ‘Unrest They Find’ or 'Anaconda.' As tight as the musicianship is, the vocalist also proves to be the perfect fit for this style of thrash, making
Uncertain Future an outstanding debut that stands high and proud above many albums in the genre.
