Lista de Bandas Atmospheric Black Forgive Me Last Drop of Life

Okay the first thing that drew me to this band was that they have members from countries you wouldn't even associate with the metal scene let alone the black metal one. Seeing that the members were from Egypt and Jordan respectively I was instantly intrigued, I mean seeing them from these particular countries I was expecting something unique due to their relative isolation from other major Depressive Black Metal contributors such as Germany and the States. Unfortunately however this is a pain to listen to for all the wrong reasons.

There is nothing innovative and/or exciting about this relief and I was left not with the satisfaction of discovering a truly wondrous band but a sour taste in my mouth that persisted long after this album finally finished. The major problem with this release is that it's boring, in a genre that is as minimalistic as Depressive Black Metal aspects such as song writing become very important. The problem with Last Drop of Life is that the song writing skills are mediocre and as a result of this everything sounds exactly the same with very little to differentiate the tracks apart. Even the intro rubs me off the wrong way, plenty bands use ambient intros to set the mood for the album but the way Forgive Me have used it causes great annoyance within me. If the generic synths weren't enough we are treated to a wonderful sample of the vocalist sounding like he is forcing out a massive dump. It's not depressing, it's not emotional it's just plain irritating and cliché.

When the first real track starts we're greeted to very fuzzy and distorted guitars with reverberating drums and non existent bass. The guitar tone is by the far the worst I have heard in Depressive Black Metal, it is just too thin and fragile for it to carry any sort of weight with it. Also to add insult to injury the riffs are monotonous, uninteresting and forgettable. I don't have a problem with minimalism but Forgive Me seem to be incapable of doing it right due to the lack of quality of any of the riffs in the first place. They just tend to exist, they don't really grab your attention they just do their thing in the background, if you're not listening intently enough anyone could pass it off for a typical Depressive Black Metal record but it's when more attention is given that it's easy to see that the riffs are weak, unimaginative and boring. They have this annoying tendency to drone on and make tracks seem a lot longer than they actually should. I will admit that the intro riff in The Old Railway is pretty cool, it has an early Forgotten Tomb vibe to it and I like the lead that harmonises over the main riff, it's a nice touch and shows that when they are focused they are actually capable of writing some pretty solid material. However even during this track mediocrity rears its ugly head with the clean mellow break that adds nothing to the track and detracts greatly from the listening value and making the song much longer than it actually feels.

Into the Shroud is another fairly good song starting with an actually enjoyable riff like The Old Railway but then the vocals come in which just add an unwanted level of annoyance over what could have been a really special track. The vocals simply put are plain awful, they're this annoying high pitched whispering shriek that adds nothing to the album and is more irritating rather than agonizing and depressing. I also don't like how they're produced, being very hazy and faded out adding some unintentional moments of hilarity when the vocalist sounds like Smeagle. Unlike the last track the mellow acoustic break on this track actually works and so do the synths, they add a good level of atmosphere to this track giving it depth and more room to breathe. But then the annoying constipated groaning that was heard in the intro makes an unfortunate return, if that wasn't bad enough the whispers add an unwanted melodramatic level of cheese over the track making the vocal aspect of Into the Shroud close to being unbearable.

The problem with Forgive Me is that they have proven to me they can write some enjoyable material but there's just so much monotony on display here that it becomes lost within the sea of mediocrity that they can't seem to escape from. Not to mention the awful vocal performance and the vision of the music becomes lost. Another problem is that everything is incongruous, the shrieks and whispers don't go well together, the transitions between the clean and distorted sections feel rough and disjointed and the music in general just doesn't fit in with the vocals. Everything seems to have been thrown together at the last minute without any time put into sanding off the rough edges. Their are undoubtedly some good moments present here such as The Old Railway and the musical aspect of Into the Shroud that show that when they actually try hard to make good music, they are capable of it. But there's just far too many flaws and not enough differentiation between the tracks to make this an interesting listen, when you've got a scene as cluttered as Depressive Black Metal then bands like Forgive Me become easily lost in the sea of other bands doing the exact same thing. If Forgive Me want to get somewhere within the genre then they need to completely alter their sonic framework, most noticeably there needs to be some variety between the tracks and the vocalist needs to be replaced. Also the guitar tone is god awful, they'd do well to change that as well. As a side note the lyrics are good, they may not be the most unique but the way they are written is handled better than most other bands.

The overall incongruity of Last Drop of Life made this one of the most confusing and frustrating listening experiences I've had in a while. The juxtaposition between good parts and bad parts really begins to wear thin near the end and I often find my attention wavering whilst it's playing. Honestly I do believe that Forgive Me has got potential and seen as though it's their debut album one would expect some musical immaturity so for the time being I'll let some of the flaws slide but there's no excuse for how bad the vocals are. They're are simply put; atrocious and I can not fathom why they were chosen to be performed in this way, they're out of place and irritating. If not for the vocals this album would probably get a few more extra points from me but as it stands a score of 10 I think will suffice. It's not a terrible album but it's not that good either, there's too many inconsistencies for my liking. I'll keep an eye out for future releases from this band to see if they've expanded their sonic framework but I'm not expecting much.
Overall score- 10/20
Stand out tracks- The Old Railway, Into the Shroud