GRAVE FORSAKEN ~ It Has Begun

[My Awesome Timothy]

This is a review for Grave Forsaken's mighty 2017 album 'It Has Begun'.

 I have been a fan of Grave Forsaken, the hardest working band in Christian Metal since they formed around 2005 so when it was announced a new album was arriving I was super excited.  Ever since the raw sounds of the debut release ' Beside The River Of Blood', which is a very good album by the way, Grave Forsaken have crafted in 2017 nine 'World Class' thrash metal tracks that will leave you breathless!!!  The opening track is entitled  'Run For Your Life' starts off like something from an early Metallica record and then picks up a fast pace with some heavy thrash riffs.  Before I continue with my review of this great album I need to mention how awesome the guitar work of Luke Gallagher and Elias Salmela is on this record as its exceptional and has taken the band to a new level.  Credit should also be given to the outstanding talents of Matt Skipworth on bass and Joshua Gallagher on drums and Vaughan Gregory's best performance on vocals on any Grave Forsaken record thus far.  The songwriting on this record is far superior to anything they have produced in the past and shows that the band are on a level that matches all the big names in thrash metal from past and present.  Musically I hear influences of early Megadeth in particular , Metallica and early Slayer but Grave Forsaken are certainly not a carbon copy of these bands as they have their own sound.  The second track 'We Stand United' is a strong and powerful song lyrically and musically encouraging us to all stand strong together even during the tough times.  A couple of songs 'The Mission' and 'Battle On' have a similar lyrical theme and both songs to me sound in the vein of early Megadeth.  The title track 'It Has Begun' is an excellent mid-paced tune that showcases interesting riffs throughout the song.  Next up is the track 'The One Who Knows' which starts off with an acoustic introduction before the powerful crunchy guitars kick in, giving a huge wall of sound that is similar to some of Slayer's slower songs.  Next up is 'Thoughts and Memories' is a powerful tune with some cool riffing and lots of time changes on it and has an amazingly melodic chorus that will literally forever be in your 'Thoughts and Memories'!!!  I thought the lyrics 'Debate if we must but we can see, everything here we must leave' is very thought provoking to the unbeliever, very cleverly done.  Catchy riffs start the next song 'No Longer The Broken Man' and continue throughout this very impressive song.  Lyrically the song encourages us to keep our focus on God in this world of pain and suffering.  The final track 'The Seafarer' has a similar lyrical theme to 'Thoughts and Memories', both tracks remind me of what God tells us through the book of Proverbs that everything we have and do in this life is futile.  Musically the song starts off slowly with some cool leads before crunchy guitar riffs which chop and change throughout get the song in full swing and finishes the album in very strong fashion.  Overall, I can't recommend this album highly enough and am sure it will be my favourite album of 2017.  The production is top notch and musically this album is outstanding, you won't hear a better metal album in my opinion.   Grave Forsaken are so underrated and should be taking the world by storm with this slab of metal.  With  2017 bringing so many great thrash metal albums in the world of 'Christian Thrash Metal' from the likes of Deliverance, Hand Of Fire, Freakings, Consecrator and Adorned Graves, Grave Forsaken have in my opinion more than matched them.  In fact I would go as far as saying that 'It Has Begun...' is a classic and would shine if this had been released between 1988-1993.  I would therefore rate this album as a masterpiece and therefore rate this album accordingly as a 10/10 release.  As I look forward with excitement to the next release from Grave Forsaken, I don't know if they will be able to top this one but who knows Vaughan, Elias, Matt, Luke and Joshua may just surprise me!!!

[Opeth3232]

Terribly under appreciated band