Band:	Forsaken
Album:	After The Fall
Style:	Doom metal
Release date:	April 01, 2009
A review by:	Marcel Hubregtse

01. Tenebrarum (Intro)
02. Aidenn Falls
03. Sins Of The Tempter
04. The Lord Sayeth
05. Vanguards Of The Void
06. Armida's Kiss
07. The Sage
08. Dies Irae (Day Of Wrath)
09. Metatron And The Mibor Mythos

It's been four years since Malta's Forsaken have released the much lauded Dominaeon. Finally the highly anticipated After The Fall is upon us. Although four years are long, they don't seem that way cause it's not that Forsaken disappeared from the scene during that period of time. Live gigs and the debut album by bassplayer Albert Bell's Nomad Son saw to it that Forsaken was never far away from the thoughts of epic doom fans. Besides gigging and recording, the band also spent the time after 2005 searching for a new label. Swedish doom label I Hate Records signed the band. And anyone worth their salt knows that I Hate Records equates to sheer quality (but then again what would one expect of a label run by Griftegård's Ola). Hopefully I Hate Records will be able to catapult Forsaken into the mindset of a larger audience, for they surely deserved that already on the back of 2005's Dominaeon.

Fast forward to spring 2009 and April Fool's Day sees the release of album number four. Trembling hands of anticipation slip the cd into the stereo. Will the wait have been worth it?
Mmm, an intro, and if there is one thing I absolutely despise it's stand alone intros and outros. But thank God, it's over in under 2 minutes.
Let the true proceedings begin... Holy Mother of Christ, what an extremely heavy opening riff with pounding drums. Here comes Leo's characteristic vocals. Now this is epic doom as epic doom should sound. Making me sway back and forth nodding my head. And then at 1.29, what is that? A totally unexpected guitar line which mesmerises me even more adding a US powerish epic metal feel to the songs. Hell, there is that guitar line again at 2.31 now making me prance like My Little Pony through the room with an immense smile on my face and goosebumps all over. Aidenn might Fall here but the old Marcel arises. And the euphoria continues at 3.35 a guitar that comes across as the trumpets that brought down the walls of Jericho. And what immense NWOBHM style soloing going on. Now this IS the ULTIMATE upbeat epic doom metal song. Aidenn Falls, sure, but Forsaken have risen to their greatest heights ever.

After the totally unexpected upbeat opening the following songs continue in a little more downbeat manner. Yes, downbeat, though not depressing, cause one of the sheer characteristics of Forsaken's music is that it always is full of sunshine carrying messages of hope and enjoyment. Sins Of The Tempter is riddled with guitar solos and crushing riffs, as is every single song on this masterpiece. Unfortunately only one guitarist is part of Fosaken. How I would have loved to hear Sean Vukovic battle it out with another guitarist in dual guitar leads. I think that had that happened here on After The Fall it would have come damn close to perfection. But we can't have everything, right?

49 Minutes into the album and up comes closing track Metatron And The Mibor Mythos. Just as opener proper Aidenn Falls ambushed me so does Metatron. The single most epic track of the album closes proceedings standing tall and proud at 7 minutes. Proud that Lucifer has been dethroned and that Satan writhes and cries. Look at the cover artwork and this song is the depictment of how our hero must feel.

Here we have an album of which I would love to read the lyrics (which have unfortunately not been included with the promo). Lyrics of biblical proportions, without a doubt. All along the album I have this nagging suspicion that music and lyrics complement each other as they have never before, thus making After The Fall into an intriguing journey of doom, gloom, hope and euphoria.

Forsaken's After The Fall is already 2009's fourth brilliant epic doom metal release after Procession's The Cult Of Disease, Isole's Silent Ruins, and Candlemass' Daeth Doom Magic. And with Griftegård's upcoming debut album 2009 seems to be turning into the best year ever for epic doom. But the question that remains is... will the masses finally catch on to how brilliant doom is?
Let's hope so, or not?