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Artist: NO
FORGIVENESS
Album: Deja-Vu
Year: 2006
What is it with Italian underground bands and major
delays? The T3chn0ph0b1a EP was delayed almost a year,
while the Neon Synthesis album was delayed about ten
months. Another release to add to this particular group
is the Deja-Vu album of Turin formation No Forgiveness.
First it should come out in February 2006, then some
days before their Dutch mini-tour (organized by
IndustrializedMetal.tk – and they showed me that their
live performance is as killer as their music!) but in
the end the release date is set to 6-6-2006 (666 – how
original hehehe). The album is filled with preverious
released tracks re-recorded and mastered plus one new
track and two covers, and with this latest weapon they
will enter the war in search for a record label.
No Forgiveness says to make insane industrial gothic. A
nice description, but a non complex peasant (no offence
to you farmers) will have no idea what he should expect.
A little description then: No Forgiveness combines
pounding drum machine work with dark, heavy metal based
distortion guitars and great melodic synths. Very
different vocals are used by singer Holy Smoke, who is
able to do raw screams but loves to use different
pitched vocals too. This all together results in a
powerful and atmospheric mix of the good parts of gothic
and metal. ‘Hate Gate’ is the first song of the Deja-Vu
album, which is the only preveriously unreleased track.
Compared with the raw mix that was downloadable, they
took a big step forward on the key work and the vocal
mixing. Hate Gate is a little bit catchy too, which
always is important for an opening track. Some of you
may be a bit surprised when they hear the electro
intermezzo after the gunshots, but don’t worry, just let
it go with the flow. An excellent track! ‘Insane’ was
preveriously released on the Masquerade EP (review
elswehere on this website). This is maybe the song with
the best guitar riff of the album. Compared with the
preverious version, this one is ten times more powerful.
And, there is some crazy sampling added which makes this
song even more special! ‘Aves’ was released on the
‘Obscure Shining’ demo, and an EBM remix of it is to be
found on ‘Masquerade’. The intro used on live gigs
appears over here, and after the building up insanity
breaks loose. Raw guitarwork and raw screams go through
the bones, and the atmospheric sampling gives you the
feeling of beeing haunted in the night. ‘Tears of God’
is more 80’s based. Think of a more insane version of
Nine Inch Nails mixed with the particular No Forgiveness
sound. Preveriously released on ‘Obscure Shining’, but
this time with a more killer sound! ‘Another666’ is also
off that demo, and I think this is the song with the
major change. The chorus is (beautifully) sang by a
girl, which gave a little weird impression live, but
sounds like a great invention on CD. Powerful guitar
riffs are mixed with cold sampling through the whole
song. ‘Give Me A Scream’, preveriously released on
Masquerade, always was one of my favourite songs of this
band. The guitarwork is absolutely amazing, and now they
transformed this song into a more controversial one it
even sounds better. Give me a scream... YEAH!!! ‘Fucking
Good’ is maybe the most metal song of the album. Fast
guitar work and some blasting drums mark this song, with
the typical raw screams of Holy Smoke for the nice
flavour. The intermezzo might sound a little weird when
you listen to it the first time, but after a while
you’ll get the point of this too! Next up is a cover of
Depeche Mode’s ‘Enjoy The Silence’. Since many many many
bands have covered this song already, there is lots of
material to compare it with. And I must say, No
Forgiveness did a more than excellent job! They managed
to mix their own sound into the original with ease. The
song still sounds like the Depeche Mode song in a way,
but most of all it sounds like a No Forgiveness song and
that is what makes it a good cover. Track also appears
on the Italian Depeche Mode tribute CD! Next song is
another cover. ‘Here Comes The Rain Again’, originally
performed by the Eurythmics, is a more emotional song.
It shows a total different side of the band, compared
with all the insanity in the preverious tracks. Easy
listening, relaxing stuff, and well performed!
‘Masquerade’, originally to be found on the EP with the
same name, is the first song on their live shows but the
last song of this album. Constructed to open the door
slowly, but when it has been opened the most dark world
you can imagine lays in front of your eyes. Excellent
dark sampling and whispering vocals mark this song, but
don’t be afraid. Just wear your mask and join the
masquerade! In the end, I dare to say that this was
definitely worth the wait. Although, there is one small
point of critic. Some of the songs (Masquerade, Insane,
Give Me A Scream...) are constructed exactly the same
way. Each song has its own identity though, but the
intros and the ends of these songs are rather familiar.
Maybe they should experiment a little more with some
different ways to build these things. Anyway, it’s
pretty hard to call this “complaining” after you have
heard this excellent release. An album filled with
outstanding tracks combined out of the best of the
gothic/industrial and the metal worlds. This album has a
major chance to become album of the year 2006, and we
are only halfway that year now!Let’s hope to see this
band on a big festival next summer, so they will be one
more step closer to world domination and annihilation!
Oh and last thing to mention: there is some nice bonus
added to this album too: some excellent remixes of
various wellknown and underground industrial acts!
Vote: 99 / 100
Review by: Gerardo |
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01. Hate Gate
02. Insane
03. Aves
04. Tears Of God
05. Another666
06. Give Me A Scream
07. Fucking Good
08. Enjoy The Silence
09. Here Comes The Rain
Again
10. Masquerade
11. Aves (EBM rmx by No
Forgiveness)
12. Immaculate Bitch
(Mental Siege rmx)
13. Another 666 (Son of
Noise rmx)
14. After / Before (Tour
de Force rmx)
15. Hate Gate (Golem 101
rmx)
16. Cruel Queen (Blank
rmx)
17. Another 666 (covered
by Reborn Z)
18. Gimme A Scream
(Punish Yourself rmx) |
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