God Forbid

It’s only March, but this may very well be the metalcore album of the year. God Forbid has really outdone themselves this time around. Fusing thrash, hardcore and traditional metal together impeccably, this surpasses my expectations and is a huge step up from their last release, 2001’s Determination. The quintet takes their songwriting to the next level with even hookier melodies and more intricate guitar playing. Gone Forever is an absolutely fantastic, crushing disc full of great grooves, razor sharp riffage and a wonderful interplay of clean, melodic and death-y/shouting vocals in the same vein as Shadow's Fall. Every song is a head banger's dream. The best part is that the two guitarists have their riffs and rhythms completely separated between left and right speaker channels, giving it a great "live" feel. This will most likely be one of the top five metal albums of 2004.