Forgotten Tomb
Love's Burial Ground

I preface that this review is very contentious. I've always had a certain curiosity about this band from Padua. Beyond the discussions about their leader Herr Morbid, a man whose seriousness seems at least doubtful to me, considering that he publishes instructions for young people on how to slit their wrists on the band's website homepage. Now, I'm not a moralist; if you need to talk about suicide in your songs, go ahead, but don't turn it into propaganda which is nothing but a commercialization of the act.

Excited by "Songs To Leave", a good work even though it's overrated, but especially enthused by the final song of that album, Disheartnment, I sought out this equally acclaimed "Love's Burial Ground". At first, I was puzzled; I listened to it two more times to understand. And the feeling didn't change. I found myself facing an album that's well-played, well-sung, well-produced but totally anonymous and predictable. After the first intro, there is a track with the ominous title "Kill Life". The song is nothing more than a continuous alternation of ultra-violent black riffs (terribly similar to Carpathian Forest) and Doom parts. That wouldn't be so bad if it weren't for the fact that it leaves one totally indifferent. The following "Alone" and "House Of Nostalgia" are beautiful songs but so overdone that they don't move the listener an inch. Arpeggios, a few Doom riffs, more arpeggios, Herr Morbid shrieking, and so on. All things others have done before but much more effectively. A ray of hope shines through with "Love's Burial Ground," and you think, "Wow, nice song, finally something effective!" but then comes the deadly pair "Slave To Negativity" and "Forgotten Tomb MMIII" to make you wince. The former, in particular, is terrible in its banality. Usual malevolent black riffs, copied here and there from Norwegian bands, and the singer's inhuman screams. In the middle part, there is a very long arpeggio that pretends to be harrowing when in reality it's just forced and thus boring. For heaven's sake. We are looking at a decent album, if it had come out 15 years ago it would have been a cornerstone of Metal, but let's be honest, in the current scene why does a band like Forgotten Tomb exist (surviving only thanks to Herr Morbid's outbursts)?

Everything in this album is already heard. It seems like a classless fusion of Carpathian Forest and Katatonia. It is expected that since it talks about suicide and negativity, the thought would be, "Oh, extreme!" but instead, I think "What a buffoon". It's expected that phrases like "You wanted to suffer But I need a last relief I need to bleed I need to kill life I need to kill life" sound strong and depressive but in reality, they only reveal themselves to be pathetic when compared to others who do it much better without excessive waste of "necrophile" terms (for example, "Turn loose the swans that drew my poets craft etc etc..."). I see no reason for a band like this to exist, which in their entire career has written one and I mean only one emotionally significant song (Disheartnment). Not when there are My Dying Bride, Katatonia, Anathema, Paradise Lost, Shape Of Despair... all bands that don't need to put wrist-slitting instructions on their site to appear extreme and depressive. Herr Morbid, the frontman, claims that Forgotten Tomb performs to "convey feelings of negativity and depression to the listener, hoping they will end their useless existence on this planet, and to fill the heart of the listener with desolation". Well, this album left me completely indifferent, actually, at times it made me laugh. And I think that's the worst insult one can offer.