In our ongoing investigation of deceptive and outright fraudulent extreme metal acts, we pull the rug under a handful of established outfits that don’t even seem to bother hiding that they are after your money first, artistic integrity a distant second - an audience satisfaction not even registering. The more we pull away the blinds the more obvious these practices become. Maybe your favorite band is in here, maybe your life-long inspiration only cares about the dollars/euros you’re giving him/her? Don’t be fooled, there are plenty of honest, hard-working metal bands everywhere in the scene. It’s just that these money-hungry, artistically vacuum units make it difficult for everybody involved. These bands stopped caring, they lost the passion and fire. In short: they Sold Their Souls...
I had some material done already before the demise of Lord Belial. Some of the material was actually intended for the next Lord Belial album, but since we disbanded I changed around all of the ideas into new songs.
I don’t really consider it that much superior. But we KEPT the quality from 1st to 4th album, and that is something that is not easy to do! And I think there will come a 5th album that will kick just as much ass.
Förgjord is one of the earlier Finnish black metal hordes, forming in 1995. The band’s name means ‘destroyed’ in Swedish. The album title is Finnish for ‘adversary’. In the tradition of early Gorgoroth, Graveland and Mayhem this act presents a stripped down, barbaric and primitive take on the genre. In all this channels the early proto-black metal savagery of South American pioneers as Sarcófago and Sepultura with stylings of Scandinavian forefathers as Blasphemy and Bathory, wrapped in the rebellious attitude of early Venom or Celtic Frost. Förgjord is by no means a pretty band to listen to. Much of its strength is found in its deceptive simplicity and adherence to genre rules. What it lacks in subtlety and finesse, it makes up in crudity and intensity. The vocals are demonic, alternated sparsely with spoken parts and choirs. The riffing is cold and unforgiving, but occasionally will wander into somberly melodic regions. The bass lines mostly follow the guitars, but provide enough of bottom end heaviness. As expected the production is minimal, reducing the guitars do a distant buzz, cranking up the bass guitar and much of the percussion sounds like empty buckets. It’s by no means pretty, but that was never the intent. As a raw black metal record this album is warmly recommended. It might not blow the listener away, but it will leave a few nasty cuts and bruises on the way out. http://www.hammer-of-hate.comcomment itWouter 6
