Review Summary: The skeleton is there, but it needs flesh and bone to be anything but hollow.
Formed from the ashes of With Passion, Conducting From the Grave delivers a debut EP that doesn't quite impress like its predecessor. Yet, underlying its flaws lie numerous glimmers of promise further explored in later recordings. They show expertise in their instrumentation, especially the guitar work, but on occasion, riffs are repeated a tad too much to prove useful to the song as a whole. It contributes to a sense of monotony during certain parts of songs, such as the entirety of "The Skies Are Blackened Not By Clouds, but Insects". The drumming comes off as bland and uninspired throughout the entire length of the EP, due to his lack of interesting fills or rolls. The production, as expected of any debut, is not particularly exceptional, which leaves the whole ordeal to sound dry and dull, no aspects fully fleshed out.
The vocalist does a decent job of providing a decent low growl, a harsh mid range shout , and some pretty adequate high screams. However, the production occasionally causes the vocals to become muddled and nearly hidden within the surrounding instrumentation. Despite the production's faults, his vocal patterns and styles fit the melodic guitar runs quite well, causing a fairly cohesive tandem between the two best facets of the EP. To reiterate, the drumming, sadly, does feel completely uninspired, consisting almost entirely of basic snare and crash patterns with rather consistent double-bass tapping. One upside to the production is that the bass is audible at almost every point of the songs featured, which is somewhat refreshing to hear. The bass playing is passable, never playing anything too noteworthy, but it more than satisfies those who are willing to pay attention.
It is worth noting that after this EP, the group dropped their Metalcore stylings for a more Deathcore-oriented sound on later efforts. As with most Metalcore bands, numerous breakdowns are present. Yet, despite their abundance, they are not overused to the point of exhaustion, and do not lose their impact by feeling forced into the track. No breakdown or clean interlude feels misplaced or awkward, which shows that Conducting From the Grave are more than capable of writing a good song.
Despite its faults, Trails of the Forsaken shows that Conducting From the Grave are decent songwriters, yet they need to add more substance to what they offer. Less repitition from the otherwise impressive guitarists would have lessened the slight monotonous feeling that plagues parts of the album, as well as a more engaging drum performance could have made this a debut to truly remember.
