The Forsaken - Official Website


Traces Of The Past

Sweden Country of Origin: Sweden

1. A Time To Die
2. One More Kill
3. Acid With Acid - Piece By Piece
4. Glitches Will Tell
5. Traces Of The Past
6. Serpent's Toungue
7. God Of Demise
8. Massive Machinery
9. The Empire
10. First Weapon Of Choice
11. Blackened

Review by Jacobo on June 12, 2004.

Swedish formation The Forsaken have just released their third album, Traces of the Past. It clearly states what they want from their metal – all hell breaking loose.

For those who have yet to hear The Forsaken, they play a mixture of Swedish melodic death metal, thrash and American death with a steady flow of screaming vocals. Their debut featured more of a European sound, while Art of Desolation took on more of the American death feel. Traces of the Past is a perfect mix of their two previous works.

TOTP is full of great riffs you undoubtedly have heard before. However, The Forsaken plays them with maximum intensity on this recording. The one problem that has surfaced on all their releases is that they have yet to set themselves apart from other bands in the genre. They lack originality and that is their biggest sin. This is their best release thus far, but they definitely have to work at crafting their own, unique sound.

One track in particular got my attention: “One More Kill.” In my opinion, it is the best song on the entire CD. It is reminiscent of the The Haunted’s slow-tempo tunes, or The Crown’s heavy-as-hell, experimental, mid-tempo killers. The other songs are quality and extremely well-played. Also featured the Metallica cover, “Blackened,” and it definitely rips!

TOTP is a good release within the death/thrash genres. If you are a fan of The Forsaken, or if you simply have a love of the genre, get this release because it's their best one so far! This could be their first step towards something bigger, but we’ll have to wait and see.

Categorical Rating Breakdown

Musicianship: 9
Atmosphere: 7
Production: 9
Originality: 4
Overall: 7

Rating: 7.2 out of 10

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