The Dutch old school hardcore band For Blood And Vengeance released their EP ‘I Am Your Enemy’ on April 9th, 2018. The band from Almere had dropped a few EP’s earlier, so I started listening to Revolt (2015) to prepare myself for the latest ‘I Am Your Enemy’. It presented me with this classic hardcore vibe, with loud guitars and very raw vocals. The EP ‘Revolt’ could have caused a bit of chaos if I’d heard it in public, because it got me jumping and headbanging for a full 17 minutes!
Now with their latest EP, I was hoping for the same effect, with maybe a bit of variation within the songs. FBAV definitely made me energetic as hell. Once the EP opens with ‘Obstruct Injustice’, the music kicks in very loud. The urge to kick everything in your way is set, while it disappears at the end of the last track, ‘Decide My Faith’. It’s not that the EP follows the same rhythm the whole time, because the songs both have fast and soft parts. The reason of this particular vibe, is probably connected to the aggression in the vocals and in the guitars.
The songs probably work great on metal parties, because it pumps up all your energy and makes you wanna jump into the moshpit. All 6 tracks sound very strong, and are possibly their new trademarks. Something very remarkable in my opinion, is the other voice in ‘Never Back Down’, the third track of the EP. Earlier this year, I was lucky enough to review AmeriKKKant by Ministry. I pointed out that Ministry used edited interviews in their songs from older albums, and that they did the same on their latest. This edit sounded like a political interview, and it makes the song a bit more exciting: it leaves the listener with a strange feeling, because he or she doesn’t know what to think about it.
Although the songs sound very cool, their music has one complication: the song from this EP, and also the songs of ‘Revolt’, are not very different from each other. The songs all feature power chords and some raw vocals, but even after listening to this EP for the tenth time, I didn’t hear a lot of difference between some tracks. Now, this of course not a problem for everyone. If you really like the style of FBAV, you won’t mind that all songs sound alike. But in my opinion, this band might need a bit of variety in their discography. One song, where they dare to step out of this comfort zone, might be a big leap towards fame.
Although there’s not that much variety in the EP, I enjoyed ‘I Am Your Enemy’. I think that they could become a more famous Dutch hardcore band if they change it up a little. The fact that the Dutch produce this kind of music made me proud to be Dutch, and I was proud to be one of the 26 listeners of the band on Spotify.
Score: 7.2/10 ★★★☆☆
Tracklist:
1. Obstruct Injustice
2. All We Got
3. Never Back Down
4. Death Trap
5. Take Down The Righteous
6. Decide My Fate
More about For Blood And Vengeance
www.facebook.com/forbloodandvengeance/
www.forbloodandvengeance.com/
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