It’s hard to believe I wrote my first blog for Metalsucks on February 21st, 2008. I really don’t know what happened to that time. So much has happened to me since then that it’s hard for me to believe life has gone by this quickly.

And I left the only thing I ever knew behind me. I bowed out of the most rewarding and troubling journey I’ve ever experienced.

Believe it or not, my decision to leave God Forbid wasn’t a decision. My quitting the band stemmed from a stupid argument (the last straw) I had with my brother involving me getting a ride from New York City to the band’s van in Pennsylvania. This argument consisted of screaming about money, respect, being a “star,” big opportunities, etc. The argument ended with me screaming to my brother, “Fuck YOUR band.” I’ve never leveled an attack at my brother in that way. The band was never “his” or “mine.” It was always “ours.” That statement was really “I quit,” and we both knew it.

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As you are (hopefully) already aware, God Forbid’s latest opus, Earthsblood, hits stores today. Guitarists Doc and Dallas Coyle was cool enough to give us a track-by-track breakdown of each song on what is inarguably the band’s best record to date. Enjoy!

1.”The Discovery” – The intro for Earthsblood came about in a peculiar way. The original piece started with the doomy guitars that kick in around 40 seconds into it. We wrote it as part of our black metal side project called Hell Nigger. It was the outro for a song that we wrote in one day. Without the keys and stuff, it sounded more like Morbid Angel, but with the new album having a much darker tone, we thought it would make a cool intro to the album. The piano piece was actually played and composed (with some direction from Dallas and I) by my Dad, Kevin Coyle. We showed him the chords that the guitars were playing, and he started doing this arpeggiated Danny Elfman thing that just killed. Our Dad is a piano teacher and has been playing for like 40 years. He also played on our last album. The orchestration was performed by Michael Romeo from Symphony X. We met each other through our producer, Eric Rachel. He has his own home studio where Symphony X records their albums and this orchestration program that costs some ungodly amount of money, and takes 4 computers to run. Apparently, they use that program to do film scores. Mike is incredible, and I can’t thank him enough for adding some much virtuosity to the record.
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When God Forbid’s new, still-untitled album is released in 2009, it will have been more than three years since their last record, the epic Constitution of Treason. Since then, the band has done an insane amount of touring and thrown their fans a few bones to tide us all over – a rarities collection here, a DVD there – but if most of our fellow God Forbid fans are like Vince and myself, they’re jonesin’ pretty hard for some new material.

So, speaking purely as fanboys, we were insanely excited when Dallas Coyle offered to give us a listen to four tracks off the new album. And we became even more excited when the songs turned out to be totally worth the wait, foretelling of a record as good as, if not better than, past God Forbid releases.

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Holy crap. After what seems like forever, God Forbid finally released their first DVD, Beneath the Scars of Glory and Progression, earlier this week (trailer and clip above).

And you know what?

It was totally worth the wait. Click to read more…

God Forbid drummer Corey Pierce has finished laying down drum tracks for the band’s new, still-to-be titled album, which is being produced by Eric Rachel (The Dillinger Escape Plan, Atreyu). In a statement, Pierce says:

“So everyone, I am finally done with the drum tracks for the new record. I have to say just how proud I am of what we have accomplished with this new material. I know that once you guys out there hear it, everyone will be feeling it. This is the best of the best. I love my band, our friends and fans that helped us get to this point and we think you will all be pleased to see where we are headed. I can’t wait to hear people’s reactions, so stay tuned to www.myspace.com/godforbid for news and video reports from the studio.”

I think I can safely speak for Vince and Kip when I say that there are few albums we’re anticipating as much this year as the new offering from God Forbid. Here’s what guitarist Doc Coyle told us about the album back in December:

“We’re just doing different… trying different types of song. We’re not tied into a formula. One song we have, it sounds like a Dimmu Borgir song. One song sounds like Opeth. Then we’ve got more stuff like “To the Fallen Hero,” more hook-oriented stuff too. And some really technical stuff. Some super, heavy slow stuff. In a way not being a massive band like Killswitch or Lamb of God or Slayer, you don’t have as much to risk as far as trying different things. I don’t know, we’re trying to make an impact.”

The new album should be out before the end of the year. I can hardly wait.

-AR