Band: FORETOKEN
Album: Ruin
Label: Prosthetic Records
Genre: Melodic Death Metal
Release Date: September 4th, 2020
In regard to debut albums, Ruin is so puissant I thought upon first listening that FORETOKEN had to be a band I had simply looked over in the past. That is to say holy hell, where have these boys been? Ranging from Greek tragedy to Hindu symbolism, Ruin pulls from all over the world to lay down stories of grief and epics.
FORETOKEN is Steve Redmond on guitar duty and orchestration, Dan Cooley on vocals and the duo recruited legendary skins master Hannes Grossman for the record. Redmond and Cooley are no strangers of working together as the two were in Cyaegha as well, but upon listening to the two projects I can confidently state that Ruin is their strongest sound yet. Crushing intensity that is reminiscent of early Children of Bodom crossed with Old Man's Child, FORETOKEN has surely crafted an instant classic.
Let's go over more of the details of Ruin. The record is six tracks strong weighing in at 46 minutes in playtime. Mastering the record is the job of Jacob Hansen over at Hansen Studios (The Black Dahlia Murder, Fleshgod Apocalypse). James Malone (Arsis) provided a dueling guitar solo for the 3rd track, A Deathless Prison. Czech artist Tomas Hanz's painting Fallen Empire graces the album and helps give a visual glimpse of the end of song Hamartia.
FORETOKEN are shaping up as a force to be reckoned with and having Ruin as their debut I'm thrilled to see where they go from here. I have zero quibbles with the record at all, and in my opinion, is one of the strongest works of art I've had the pleasure to hear this year thus far.
I'm giving Ruin a 9.5/10!
Be sure and show FORETOKEN some love on their social media pages, and if you dig what you hear why not order Ruin over on their Bandcamp?
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