Earthsblood gets a thumbs up from me..

The release of God Forbid's Earthblood this Tuesday begs the question, why aren't God Forbid fucking huge right now? Despite experiencing moderate success, God Forbid somehow manage to evade the limelight. Well they can run, but they certainly can't hide for long, especially after the release of this, their latest effort.

In a genre not always known for its abundance of African American participants, God Forbid have always jokingly touted themselves as, "true black metal." All joking aside, this album sees a fair amount of black metal influence, especially on tracks like "The Rain." It also boasts the perfect balance of earthshaking low-end and melodic guitar work, not to mention some thunderous drumming from Corey Pierce.

God Forbid also does singing/screaming right, with the clean vocals of the Coyle brothers contrasting well against the bellowing roar of Byron Davis, while not coming off as whiny or emo. From the bleak-sounding classical intro of "The Discovery" to the last notes of "Gaia," Earthsblood is a solid album from start to finish.

The only noticable low on this album is "Walk Alone," which while not completely terrible, sticks out like a sore thumb against the other nine tracks. Saturated with 80s sleaze and swagger this track is trying too hard to be a some type of bastard rock anthem. All things considered, Earthsblood is God Forbid's best work to date. This is a band at their peak, an album definitely worth your ten bucks.

For fans of: Arch Enemy, Unearth, Lamb of God, Dimmu Borgir.