Craven Idol – Forked Tongues
Band: Craven Idol
Title: Forked Tongues
Label: Dark Descent Records
Release date: 23 July 2021
Country: United Kingdom
Format reviewed: High-quality Digital Recording
Alright alright alright! It´s time to give a brand-new album a listen, isn’t it? This time my pick was “Forked Tongues” by the British Craven Idol, and honestly saying it all together out loud really has it roll off your tongue, doesn’t it?
“Venomous Rites” starts the whole thing out with a short chaotic intro before the metal takes over and honestly, it is a bit messy, however that is often associated with thrashy death/black metal with a lot of old school vibe. Fierce and aggressive sound while the vocals are high pitched. The production is quite compressed with the drums constantly pushing the whole soundscape down during the more intense moments. It is worth mentioning the Tom Araya homage with the Angel of Death falsetto to agonizing pain scream. The blast beating metal doesn’t stop there, however black metal is more apparent in “Iron Age of Devastation” than anything else.
Almost as if a lurking sea monster is surfacing “Even the Demons…” creeps up on the listener and as the track goes, the listener gets that typical old school 2-paced punk beat with an easy to embrace guitar riff and strong vocals, which somewhat reminded me personally of Venom´s Cronos. The title track Forked Tongues is quite powerful however is also just as chaotic. The verses are once again that simple old school vibe with either that punky feel or blast beat chaos. A little bit blackened Slayer, if you will.
“Deify The Stormgod” of course, as the title presents, includes thunders, rain, and metal. While classic sounding intro in the vein of Metallica´s debut album with the opening track Hit the Lights, they take a turn afterwards to their own sound and as the vocals enter is when this group come to their right, at least in my own opinion. Synthetic choir opens the final track “The Gods have Left us for Dead” and while it is the second song in a row that is over 9 minutes, it starts out as quite the nice ballad, and really does sound like the most musical track on this entire album. Quite the nice closure indeed.
In my own non-professional opinion, I’d say that for the aggression and old-school no-fucks-given, it’s a full pointer for sure. However, the tracks are not as strong as I feel like id like them to be, and many of the riffs are almost just like fillers instead of being memorable main riffs of future classics. 7/10 Julia Katrin
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7/10 Victory is possible
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