Forest of Impaled - Rise and Conquer CD Review

Add Your Review

2007-04-21 : PM
FOREST OF IMPALED
Rise and Conquer
Red Stream
10 Fucking Skulls
Crafting its own style of War Metal, Chicago’s Forest Of Impaled (great image) in Rise and Conquer melds the atmospherics of Symphonic Black Metal with the technical deviance of Death Metal and the fretboard-burning intensity of Thrash Metal. The centerpiece has to be the guitar duo of Adrian Adamus (Corphagy) and Mark Trela, who simply smoke the guitars. At times brutally vicious while at others charged with soaring epic infusions, the guitars are relentless, with layer after layer building to symphonic levels that only the likes of Immortal could once attain. Drummer Duan Timlin (Dying Fetus and Judas Iscariot) tears down battlements with a barrage of battering-ram-quality kickers and relentless work on the skins while bassist Zion keeps his thumper in the mist. Zion (Disinter) also handles vocals, which despite their rasp possesses a certain epic quality. Unlike previous releases, Rise and Conquer does vary the pace considerably, with thrashers such as “Take the Throne” and the title track counterbalanced with slower, Doom-laden songs like the seething scorcher “Nil Desperandum” (killer Emperor vibe here) and “Schizophrenia”. Best lyric line on the whole album: “Scream myself into oblivion.” Go buy this fucking thing already. (OR)
2007-04-21 : PM
FOREST OF IMPALED
Rise And Conquer (Red Stream)
Forest Of Impaled's fourth release should garner much acclaim in extreme
metal circles with its deft marriage of hard charging blackness,
Slayer-ized thrash and brutal death. Double bass drums and high tempoes
predominate, but the Chicago based unit also add background keys and the
odd light interlude to expand musical boundaries and ensure listeners
attention is retained. Lead vocalist Zion snarls and growls to his
blackened hearts content, spewing tales of Satan's bloody rise to the
earthly throne. Of course there are tons of bands that have served as good
ol' Beelzebub's minions, but few sport the sparkling production clarity of
this vile beast. Truly this could only be pulled off by musicians with an
absolute mastery over their chosen instruments, every participant clearly
audible every heaving second of this release. Highlights include the
blitzkrieg title track opener and the early Venom/Slayer stamped 'Beyond
All'.
Chris Tighe [7.5]
2007-03-31 : PM : Link
It’s pot luck usually when the powers that be give me a band to review that I’m not familiar with, so when I was given a copy of the latest offering from Chicago’s Forest Of Impaled, I wasn’t sure what to expect. American Black Metal... I was dubious to say the least, however, when I put this CD on for the first time, it took me less than a minute to establish one thing. This album f***ing kills!

Rise and Conquer is the third offering from Forest and their first with new vocalist Zion, previously of Disinter, who puts his mark on things with a full on display of gritted teeth, bloodlust and fury. The opening track, Rise and Conquer explodes from the speakers with total purpose and is a solid chunk of ‘Blackened War Metal’, a call to war and a call for victory, and so effective is it, by half way through I felt the urge to invade a small village, however, I settled on another beer and a chance for the rest of the album to calm down somewhat, to disappoint me after it’s early promise. The machine gun drumming and menacing guitars of Beyond All soon puts paid to any of those thoughts. Despite the overall Black/War Metal sound of the album, things slow down considerably with Nil Desperandum, a great track but it feels a little out of place on this album, having more of a slow brooding Doom feel about it, then we accelerate back up to 100mph for Blessed Are We and the best track on the album (in my opinion), When Warriors Led, which is one of the overall best metal songs I’ve heard in the last 12 months. The album closes with a cover of Miasma’s Schizophrenia, moving back to a slow methodical Doom sound, and with a keyboard element that enhances the atmosphere rather than detracts from it, telling a story in an understated way, rather than screaming pomposity. Zion’s vocals throughout are superb, dripping with violence, hate and murderous intent.

To put it quite simply, Rise and Conquer is one of the very best albums I’ve heard in the past year, and one that has changed my opinion somewhat on the American Black Metal scene. There are bands out there who can do this right and Forest Of Impaled deserve to go from strength to strength off the back of this. If you know them already, what are you waiting for? If this is the first you’ve heard of Forest Of Impaled, go and find yourself a copy of this now! This is a call to arms! Absolutely essential metal.
2007-03-23 : Anonymous Coward : Link
Forest Of Impaled - Rise and Conquer
Feature Image(Red Stream

With the superb Forward The Spears, Chicago’s Forest Of Impaled appeared to rise to the elite level’s of US black/death metal, and even with a slightly less than prolific discography, the band has with their long awaited follow up, cemented their status.

Even with a new vocalist (Disinter’s Zion replaces Marcus Kolar), the band’s sound is steadfastly intact; rousing, violently epic, blackened war metal of the highest order. To some, the mix of death and black metal, melody and scathing savagery might comes across as the nasty, war obsessed cousin of Epoch of Unlight, and that’s accurate to some extent, but whereas Epoch of Unlight seem to be mellowing out, Forest Of Impaled are on a dad course for charred battlefield carnage.

The 8 pretty lengthy tracks range from a vast array of seething, slicing hymns that would be fitting for a march of the Uruk-Hai such as “Take the Throne”, “Cleansing Ablaze” and “When Warriors Led” with the standout being the war drum injection of the blood pumping “Blessed Are We”. Then, some of the tracks such as the epic title track, “Nil Desperandum” and “Schizophrenia” slow things down to a menacing lope. There’s a sprinkling of appropriate synths, but this is no Dimmu Borgir, and the production is razor sharp, especially highlighting the drumming of Duane Timlin (Broken Hope, Dying Fetus, Divine Empire), arguably the driving force behind Forest Of Impaled’s blistering, yet controlled sound.

Rise and Conquer is a superb album on every level and shows that USBM doesn’t have to be self absorbed, depressing and suicide inducing as Forest of Impaled is the clarion call of battle and bloodlust.

By Erik Thomas

[Forest Of Impaled]

Posted 03/19/07
2007-03-19 : Anonymous Coward : Link
Forest of Impaled - Rise and Conquer
[Red Stream]
At one time comprised entirely of Polish expatriates, Chicago's Forest of Impaled returns here with long-time member Duane Timlin (ex-Krieg, Sarcophagus) on drums and new vocalist/bassist Zion, of local death metallers, Disinter, stepping in for original player Marcus Kolar. Rise and Conquer is the group's third album, gaining appreciable speed and fury as they continue to forge elements of black and death metal into precision note anabasis. Like Zyklon and Belphegor, Forest of Impaled seems to reconstruct pieces of elder Morbid Angel's Covenant into imperious phrases with very a European sense of melody and occasional keyboards painting awestruck tones amid the cold-blooded brutality. While the album's more tempered moments are less convincing, they are also few and far between. It is propelled by immediacy and martial frenzy: jihad in full commencement. 12 tracks including a cover of Miasma's "Schizophrenia."
[Listen]
[Todd DePalma]
2007-03-18 : Anonymous Coward : Link
from live4metal.com

Forest Of Impaled – Rise And Conquer – Red Stream Inc – 4/5 This is yet another punishing assault from Chicago's Forest Of Impaled. Rise And Conquer picks up where Forward The Spears left off, even opening with a similar number. Little enigma shrouds the lyrical pathos. The snarling, clenched-teeth hatred is limitless. Each song is Dantesque in its quality of violence. "This is a call to arms/This is a call to darkness/This is a call to victory/This is a call to war." No better chorus sums up the entire volcanic action of the record. Forest Of Impaled has grown technically as well, with a wider selection of skin-peeling guitar riffs and blazing leads. For the uninitiated, they resemble a souped up Necrophobic complete with an exotic Melechesh flavor. Yet they are far more bludgeoning in terms of brutal measure. Wickedly fast double bass work and rabid drum rolls keep it pure, with a monolithic disdain for all of humanity. So hardcore it'll make you vomit blood.

- Ryan Bartek