Review Summary: A strong showing in that rare classy thrash sweet spot
Generic name aside, Void plays the sort of classy thrash ala Testament, Annihilator, and Forbidden that feels downright impossible to replicate nowadays. 2023’s Horrors of Reality was a cool proof of concept that Forbidden Morale seeks to refine, giving them the sort of confidence and kinetic structuring that see the premise through. The band’s musicianship was no doubt already, but here it is tempered with growth and tightness.
While the guitars remain the primary draw, displaying precise chugs and the sort of exotic noodling no doubt indebted to Alex Skolnick among others, the other players have stepped up considerably. The vocals in particular have seemingly come out of their gruff shell, supplanting barks with more frequent falsettos and hammy tinges just shy of pizza thrash. The rhythms are also more concentrated, allowing for more direct steamrolls and tempo jumps that don’t feel as stilted as the debut.
This makes for better developed compositions that bolster their anthemic side and flesh out the horror metal premise. You can feel that synergy right off the bat as the spoopy retro nonsense of “A Curse” somehow plays effectively into the title track furiously charging in like the bastard son of “Over The Wall.” “Valeria” and “Apparition” achieve similar at the halfway mark, the former’s brief mix of mystical acoustics and soaring leads bleeding into the latter’s arcane stomps. Even straight up beatdowns like “Gateways of Stone” and “Judas Cradle” rounded out by atmospheric meanders.
These aspirations somehow get pushed even further toward the end of the album. “It’s especially wild to see them go for an honest to gods power ballad with “By Silver Light;” the sudden slowdown feels like whiplash from the surrounding tracks but the earnest clean vocals are commendable. The closing “Beneath… Lives The Impaler” is the sort of riff salad that its near-eleven runtime would indicate but offers its own off-the-wall hodgepodge appeal.
Forbidden Morals may still be a hair shy of that Never, Neverland/Twisted Into Form echelon, but it occupies that sweet spot quite nicely. Like the sophomore thrash ventures of old, it expands on the debut with more ambitious songs. I still find myself longing for a singalong chorus or two on occasion, but I also appreciate the relative lack of bloat. With so much of the old guard’s recent output looking more suspect by the day, this is an enjoyable palette cleanse.
