Sometimes I tend to enjoy a poppy metal record or two when it’s done right and when the album bleeds passion. Here we are with the debut album This Is War by the Australian act Forgiven Rival who play modern metalcore akin to All That Remains and Trivium. Catchy songs be damned, this young metalcore act plays their heart out on This Is War.

Album opener “The Grey” is a fantastic song to get the album rolling. Bringing to mind Killswitch Engage the band goes for the good cop bad cop routine that most modern metal bands tend to play by. Usually this could be a bad thing but the vocalist is a great singer and has the voice to move to mountains as well. The song has a catchy chorus that had me singing along in seconds and it even closes out with a heavy breakdown. The next few songs continue along with catchy choruses and amazing breakdowns that will get kids dancing. The opening riffs in “The Request” and “In Case Of Ignorance” are awe inspiring and had me breaking out the air guitar a few times as well.

Eventually the album leads into “Like The Effects Of The Wind,” which finds the band opening with a nice piano part before the vocals kick in. The way the vocalist sings over some of the breakdowns on a few tracks is really neat. The next song I found myself constantly playing on repeat was “This Is Your Song.” From the amazing chorus to the heavy riffs this song has a more melodic vibe reminiscent of older Soilwork especially on their album Natural Born Chaos. This song should have been the album closer.

Even though I really like this album they do however have a lot of filler tracks and sometimes the overall poppy sound tends to get on ones nerves. A couple of the songs have a newer Linkin Park style sound that will undeniably have little kids in chain linked pants jumping for joy.

With a clean production and a sound that usually seems to garner in money, the band will indefinitely sell millions especially with how the music scene is today. Quite possibly this is a band that Roadrunner Records would seem deemed to pick up because they are a label known to make money off mainstream acts.

Forgiven Rival are still young and I think they deserve the fame and recognition because they play their music with heart. This Is War is a fantastic uplifting album that needs to be heard. I just hope the band makes the right choices and keeps on making passionate music.

[Visit the band's website]

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