| CD REVIEW Dread The Forsaken |
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Band : Dread The Forsaken Uhuh...weird “band”, with instrumentalists from Guatemala City and a singer from Pennsylvania...so how's a seemingly unlikely band like that come about? The story starts in the 15th birth year of band's founding member, El Salvador born Mauricio Liborio, because that's when he began playing the guitar. But in contrast to his contemporaries, whom were mostly into the Nu-Metal/ Rap thing that was hot at the time, Mauricio had a taste for '80s Thrash Metal and the whole Finnish Metal scene. After graduation from high school, the boy moved to the USA, having by then already written such songs as “Rock” (a yet to be released DTF track), “Playground”, and a version of “Roses Are Burning”. In Los Angeles he met producer Craig Adams, and started recording with him. Then he met singer Tony Cristina, and that started DTF. They recorded early versions (with lyrics Tony'd written) of “Wasted Youth” and “Walk With Me”, but eventually the two came to a falling out, and Mauricio auditioned for a position with the band D-zire (apparently they were supposed to play Brazil, but then eventually never came through). Next he joined cover band Asia Rockstar, a band with which he got to play at the infamous Viper Room venue. Overall however, things didn't quite work out the way he'd envisioned it, and he ended up returning to Guatemala, temporarily giving up on music. Having set aside his guitar for about 3 years, he decided to give things a go again, and started creating new material around 2007-2008. A chance meeting with producer Eduardo Santella leads to a first bout of recording sessions with several types of singers. After dealing with a lot of unreliable people, he eventually decides to look for someone from outside Guatemala. This eventually led him to Images Of Eden singer Gordon Tittsworth, whom traveled to Guatemala during Nov./ Dec. 2008 a first time to do some initial demo recordings. The sessions brought a nice foundation to get positive contacts and form the band, with a guy simply known as “Mako” as bassist and Vinnie Perez as drummer. Eventually, it turned out the bassist is also an accomplished recording engineer and producer, and when time came to record this album in Nov./ Dec. 2009, he took on that role as well as that of musician. Tittsworth traveled to Guatemala a second time, this time to lay down the vocals for the album, which would eventually attract the attention of Nightmare Records (most probably due to Images Of Eden having released their 2006 album via the same label). Somehow Tittsworth must have a good connection to Nightmare Records label owner Lance King, because musically DTF kinda falls out of the usual style of the label. To “justify” signing the band, they describe DTF's music as a combination of “...Power Metal with a classic “raw” Hardcore sound along with some Traditional Heavy Metal elements...,” further talking about Tittsworth singing “...in a melodic yet much more aggressive style...,” claiming “...these 2 cultures/ styles synergize into an original, highly energetic sound with raw intensity, fast drumming, frantic guitar riffing and catchy vocal “hooks”/ melody lines.” the label continues to recommend the album for fans of such bands as Disturbed, Mudvayne, Iron Maiden, Killswitch Engage, old Anthrax, Godsmack, etc... Ahem...in my opinion that's a dire exaggeration! Because what does the music fan actually get? A 9-track album containing tracks which are best described rather riff-oriented Thrashing Metal, recorded with a sound which is simply too high to be effective, which is closer to Proto Thrash than any Power Metal I've ever heard (and that truly goes a long way!). In all fairness, there IS some Anthrax reminiscences here and there, but as far as the other comparisons go...a lot of wishful thinking, and a somewhat deceitful method to attract a broad range of music lovers, I'm afraid. The vocals are truly what's the best thing about this album, and somehow I get a feeling Tittsworth also recorded the backing vocals...with evidently resulted in some nicely harmonic moments. Better check the 3 songs posted at myspace.com/dreadtheforsaken to get a taster! I mean, try nót to see at DTF as a “typical” Nightmare band, switch your mind towards Proto thrash with a melodic singer, and you might even like what's offered. I'm afraid the sharpness of the guitar's sound gives me a headache when listened to too long! 79/100 Tony. |