Band:	Enforsaken
Album:	The Forever Endeavor
Style:	Gothenburg metal
Release date:	2004
Guest review by:	Passenger

01. Tales Of Bitterness
02. The Forever Endeavor
03. A Break From Tradidion
04. Vertigo Equillibrium
05. Dead Light, Dead Night
06. Cloaked In Need
07. The Acting Parts
08. Poison Me
09. Redemption
10. All For Nothing

With the recent deviation, disappearing or lack of new material from some of the most known Melodic Death Metal bands like In Flames, The Crown or Darkane, the best solution to satisfy my thirst for something new to hear on this style has lead me to lots of less known and young bands, some promising, others not. Curiously, Niklas Sundin from Dark Tranquillity, another band in a less active moment, has been quite busy, judging on the quantity of recent albums I've been discovering with covers made by the guitarist (and he has been doing a great job on this too). This is not a common way to hear about new bands, but this reference was actually what got me to Enforsaken. Only later I would find out they were American instead of Swedish, as it would have been to expect.

So, what to say about this album? Well, "The Forever Endeavor" alternates, lots of times, between heavy and enraged songs/moments ("Cloaked In Need" or "Redemption") and more melodic or darker parts (hear 'Tales Of Bitterness' or 'Poison Me'), so it has a big diversity, similar to what Dark Tranquillity, a clear reference of this band, successfully did on albums like "The Gallery" or "Damage Done", but here occasionally aimed to brutality, with Vader and Death influences. The growls are similar to Mikael Stanne's, less shrieking, a bit deeper and with less feeling. Like the Swedes, Steve Sagala also puts some clean vocals, but the environment is always aggressive, even when it's not the fastest. The bass and drums work don't show anything exceptional during most of the album (thought it takes a really good drummer to play 'Redemption'), but they fit the songs, set the rhythm and go along with the speed of the guitars very well. What stands out the most are exactly the guitars. The riffs are always very professional, the solos are great, long and complex not to mention that Joe DeGroot and Steve Steel work perfectly together.

Some songs really have everything to become classics, like 'Tales Of Bitterness', 'The Forever Endeavor' or 'All For Nothing', the structures, the instrumental performances, etc. Some melodies tend to sound repetitive as you get near the end, but it's highly satisfying how Enforsaken tries to make this album a succession of potential highlights. The album really doesn't have any down point, it's inspired, fast and melodic rage throughout an impressive playing time of 57 minutes, making this debut a very mature and refreshing work.