Review Summary: IV: Constitution of Treason is a near flawless metalcore recording, even though its not entirely metalcore...whatever. This is really really good.
God Forbid –
IV: Constitution of Treason
God Forbid is:
Byron Davis – Lead Vocals
Doc Coyle – Lead Guitar, Backing Vocals
Dallas Coyle – Rhythm Guitar, Backing Vocals
John Outcalt – Bass
Corey Pierce – Drums
Jason Suecof – Guitar (not in the band, provides extra guitars for a few tracks, including the guitar solo in Into the Wasteland)
In retaining the same group of musicians throughout the band’s career,
God Forbid has been able to consistently release worthwhile material for fans of any variety of metal. Based around the ever so popular American metalcore,
God Forbid are also deeply thrash influenced, broadening their fan base by merging the two drastically different subgenres of metal. For their fourth studio, the band also incorporated a melodic death metal sound (not the subject matter) as well as giving a concept album a try. Revolving around a futuristic society that continues to destroy and rebuild itself,
IV: Constitution of Treason is not only
God Forbid’s most popular release so far, but their most fundamentally sound as well.
The album is broken up into three articles. The first,
Twilight of Civilization, describes the initial apocalypse and a “survival of the fittest” type of situation. This is by far the best section musically, as the album storms out of the gate but slowly loses steam as it progresses into the middle.
Chains of Humanity, the middle track in the act, is possibly the best shorter song you’ll find in the band’s moderately sized discography. It’s complete with a chorus, solo, clean singing, incredible riffing and even some breakdown moments. This song is effectively the complete package, without padding in any unwanted material and filler to beef up the length. Even the lyrics are well-written and really depict the desperation of the situation.
“Perception governs the democracy
It no longer exists, constricting my ignorance
Freeing my soul
Lost in time
Will I ever get high enough to see?
I’m at the end of the line
I must break these chains of humanity
Euphoria transcends my reality
Spiritual disaster at my fingertips
Judgement day has come at last
The clouds bleed black
As the tentacles of the divine
Replace my blood”
Into the Wasteland begins as merely another
God Forbid song, containing their signature heavy guitar work and Byron’s menacing howls and shrieks. The song feels decent but almost disappointing after the first two marvelous tracks. Suddenly the listener it ambushed by a new riff near the end of the song, and then extra guitarist Jason Suecof provides a beautiful solo placed on top of the Coyle brother’s harmonization. It is almost as epic as the entire album, and while not being the most complex solo it is an emphatic finish for the opening act, and one of the greater moments of the album.
In the Darkest Hour, There Was One, the second article, is not nearly as strong as the first, but ends with the album’s best and most emotional song.
To the Fallen Hero is simply, quoting the song itself,
“an ode to the fallen hero”. It can easily apply to the album’s main concept, but has been rumored to have been an ode to Dimebag Darrell of Pantera. The opening, consisting of a soft guitar riff and some nice cymbal work, leads into a heavy-hitting and intricate drum beat and more harmonizing on the part of the two guitarists. Without sounding corny, it is very difficult for words to describe how incredible and powerful all the instrumental work and vocals are on this song, and many others on
IV: Constitution of Treason.
The album closes with
Devolution, and the article begins with a spoken word description of a new constitution (after some clean singing at the beginning of
Welcome to the Apocalypse). I felt a loss of some seriousness with this, as it sounds incredibly tacky. It adds to the entire concept though, so for the very few that are giving this a listen for the story as well as the music, you don’t necessarily need to skip over it. Luckily,
Crucify Your Beliefs ends this solid album on a very high note.
God Forbid faltered slightly with
Gone Forever when the weaker tracks began to sound the same due to a similar overall tone. A unique, apocalyptic sound is evident within each track on this album, capping off the total concept, but the songs manage to refrain from any repetitiveness. The instrumentals are always perfectly executed and work together marvelously, whether it be the trepid moments of silence between guitar strums during the breakdowns, the double bass coming in at ideal times rather than saturating each and every song, or the previously mentioned stunning harmonization of the guitars. The band also throws out the notion that breakdowns should be favored over solos in today’s popular American metal. In fact, the number of solos on here tops the number of breakdowns by a long shot, not to mention how well the solos are pulled off. Rather than play scales and arpeggios as fast as possible and excessively in the vein of
Dragonforce, solos here shoot for climactic instead, and are some of the most pleasant you’ll hear today. The vocals standout as well, as the screams are not necessarily cries of anguish so much as daunting and threatening. One has to adapt to these, but they are quiet well done and assist in keeping
God Forbid free of a generic sound. During moments of slightly less colorful instrumentation, the vocals will either come in clean and epic, or the severity of the screams will be increased, as to keep a melody during a transition to a different part of the song or to perfect a breakdown. Due to this, each one of the albums superior tracks is invigorating in its entirety.
The few flaws this album has don’t take too much away from its excellence. It does dip in the middle slightly, although all of those tracks contain some wonderful sections. The production effect placed on many songs that sounds somewhat like mild static on the radio can occasionally get annoying and interferes with the music. It not surprisingly seems to be placed on the less enjoyable tracks more, so the many gems on here are clean for the most part. I do fancy the production on the drumming here, as it removes the pesky clickity-clack of the double bass and instead accents everything else the drums and Corey Pierce have to offer.
IV: Constitution of Treason is perhaps
God Forbid’s best release to date. They make use of all their instrumental talent and sound less monotonous than they would unfortunately get in previous works. The band also cracks into a very original sound, and even those who loathe metalcore in general should give this a try. They do a phenomenal job of fusing the tiring genre with the best bits of thrash and melodic metal. More than compensating for the somewhat disappointing
Gone Forever,
IV: Constitution of Treason puts almost anything and everything associated with metalcore to shame.
Pros:
Overall instrumental work and the chemistry it displays
Successful concept album that is well-written
Vocals
Many brilliant tracks
Cons:
Dip in song quality around the beginning of the latter half
Unless it’s just my disc, the static-like production featured on some tracks is annoying
Recommended Tracks:
Chains of Humanity
To the Fallen Hero
The Lonely Dead
The End of the World
Into the Wasteland
Crucify Your Beliefs
Score:4.5/5
this isnt bad by any means, its just not what i would be interested in generally, idk
