GOD FORBID - It's Crushing At The Top...
by Martin Popoff

No doubt about it, the metalcore movement is a crowded field these days, but then there are the bands that invented the scene, God Forbid prevalent among them. And when you are originators, you can't help but emanate your own set of personalities, burn a little hotter, write with more of an understanding of metal's roots and with all the class of veterans.

God Forbid is most notably at that point with their new album, IV: Constitution Of Treason, the New Jersey tour-loving masochists turning in a concept record, but - have no fear - not one written ground up as a concept, but the concept placed o'ertop of crushing self-sufficient songs of valor and volume.

Out on tour right now with The Haunted and Meshuggah, vocalist Byron Davis calls in to hardradio to comment on what will likely be the band's smash breakthrough album.

"I think we've gotten to the point where we're more focused as a band, focused on what we want to accomplish, and the steps it takes to get there. We've been allotted more of an opportunity to spend a little bit more time in the studio. Basically, we started with a working title, and then we had an idea for a tribute song to Dimebag Darrell, which is called To The Fallen Hero. But after we started with that, we kind of just realized that it had to be more from the focal point of a personal song, just because a lot of people didn't have the experience of knowing him or meeting him, so we couldn't really leave it open like that. So we kind of had to make the song more personal, about people who have been influences in our own personal lives and helped us through to be more caring individuals, I guess. So basically we started out with the working title, and then we started writing the songs and then we started to realize that there were some recurring, underlying themes, so at that point we just decided to write a concept album, that basically dealt with the idea of people in America just basically standing around, complaining about what's going on in society and not doing anything about it, just watching everything go by instead of becoming part of it. So that's how it evolved into a concept album, saying that people basically never learn from their mistakes. You're given a second chance, but you never look back and wonder about what would've happened if you had done something differently."

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