God Forbid – “Earthsblood”
released February 24, 2009 by Century Media
The NJ quintet’s 5th effort is not the concept album that was IV: The Constitution of Treason, but it does follow many of the same themes found in the former, with apocalypse whittled down to a more personal level. With over three years between albums, and much of their brethren (Unearth, Lamb of God, Shadows Fall, etc.) releasing material in this time, they had pause to reflect on the landscape before attacking again. The Coyle brothers still bring that dynamism to their guitar work from Scandinavian schools, but with a distinctly American approach to songwriting. This taut musicianship has kept God Forbid vibrant all these years. The biggest shift is the prevalence of clean harmonized vocals which, along with the lyrics themselves, are the weakest elements of the album.
FCC: 10
Try 2, 4, 6, 9
01. The Discovery
02. The Rain
03. Empire of the Gun
04. War of Attrition
05. The New Clear
06. Shallow
07. Walk Alone
08. Bat the Angels
09. Earthsblood
10. Gaia (The Vultures)
Rating: 
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Hey man, pretty good review. I don’t really agree so much, but, check out my review to see my take on it:
http://jordanmunson.wordpress.com/2009/02/18/earthsblood-god-forbid-review/
Thanks. Yours isn’t bad, either…we’re just into different things. I think we both liked “The Rain,” but that’s about our only common ground. That, and you also seem to say that the album sounds good, but the songwriting is underwhelming, to which I agree. Plus, now that Dallas Coyle has left the band, their future is uncertain. Who knows, though? Maybe they’ll do what the Amotts did, and split temporarily before reuniting to write their strongest album. Hey, it could happen