EXCLUSIVE: Forsaken – Black Seed Single Review (2013)

Artist: Forsaken

Single: Black Seed – Single

You were born to cause harm to everyone. Yourself, others, friends, family—it makes no difference. You were born to drain every ounce of love from this world and replace it with nothing but loathing. Like a bull, the countless sights of day-to-day life and the menial nature of man-kind make your vision blurry and red. Like a snake, bitterness and disgust wind and coil through your veins, driving your heart and boiling your blood. You were born a black seed—the very same seed described in Connecticut demoralizing deathcore act’s latest single, Black Seed. Forsaken have capitalized on their hate-driven, bitter and aggressive sound established on their debut EP, Witness/Hell and amplified it ten-fold—Black Seed is a vessel packed with jarring, intense percussion, eclectic and diverse guitar and a stunning vocal performance, all of which hatch and blossom into a juggernaut of sheer misanthropy.

Black Seed erupts into the listener’s head, immediately planting itself and beginning to worm its way into their mind. Planted by furious, dissonant fretwork and hammered into place by machine-gun speed drumming, the vocals and lyrics weave and grow like roots of plague into the fertile, grey matter of the listener’s brain. However, the low, gritty vocals, which kick off the track, only stay low and gritty for a split second before launching into sky-scraping highs and aggressive, berating mid-range yells. All the while, the guitar oscillates from rampaging, low-end chugged riffs and squealing, jarring pinches. Forsaken make it their point to display one thing right off the bat—progression. While sections of their debut release reached into the frantic, fast-paced and furious realm of technical deathcore, Black Seed looms there for much longer, and does so much more effectively. Black Seed represents Forsaken 2.0, and they aren’t afraid to show it—especially when it comes to the more complex components of their songwriting ability. Black Seed is subject not only to raw, relentless anger, but also atmosphere and ambience which provides a supremely dissonant and devastating environment for the listener. During this slower, shred-laden and surreal moment of ambience, the percussion toggles between time signatures and styles so quickly it’s hard for the listener to follow, while the guitars both noodle and strum to create a sort of aural haunted house—the perfect microenvironment for this Black Seed to blossom.

Forsaken might have been out for blood with their debut release, but now, they’re out for much more—they’re out for everything which makes this world enjoyable. They’re out for the listener’s soul and have no qualms with taking it by force. Case in point: Black Seed. A single so violent and devastating it will take root in the listener’s brain and leech, suck and devour until there’s nothing left.

5/5

For Fans Of: Black Tongue, Float Face Down, Existence, Tormentor Absolute, Subtract

By: Connor Welsh