White Skull
Forever Fight

Well… I really don't know where to start.

And when I start with “I really don't know where to start,” usually, I'm about to trash the band and the album in question. And unfortunately for “Forever Fight,” that will be the case.
I'll be very brief.

I've been following “White Skull” for a lifetime. They've been a band full of resources and quality since the beginning, when their first singer Federica De Boni was still at the microphone. Not that the band ever thrilled me too much, at least regarding their early days.
Perhaps because they were still a bit immature and didn’t know which branch of the tree to cling to, whether the heavier one or the more damnably commercial one, aka “power crap”.

And so it was until the lineup change, with the replacement of Federica and the entrance of the legendary singer Gustavo “Gus” Adrian Gambamò, with a mile-long name but a truly fantastic voice. Just as fantastic was their concept album “The Dark Ages,” truly inspired.

Then a change of course towards the more sly heavy adjacent shores, with “The XIII Skull” having a strongly commercial impact and more “gay metal.” Definitely a choice that cost the band quite a bit, but they were able to bounce back with their latest masterpiece “The Ring Of the Ancient,” where the entire band gave their best with Gustavo always in the limelight. Great heavy metal, written, composed, played, and sung with all the bells and whistles!

Then, yet another split and yet another singer change. A revolving door band, this White Skull. Revolving doors that apparently concern only the singers and prefer female singers, like the new entry Elisa “Over” De Palma.

And so, we're back at the starting point. An album that has the ungrateful task of keeping up with its predecessor. But not only does it fail to match it, but it ends up being boring and bland.

Maybe it's just me and my expectations, but honestly, this album can be considered one of the band's least successful. A band that seems devoid of ideas. A band that no longer knows what the heck to include in its songwriting. A band that throws in a bonus track at the end, “Beer Cheers,” which is genuinely idiotic in its lyrics and seems to mimic some folk metal band on the scene.

There are convincing episodes, like the beautiful “Attle And Sleda,” the longest track on the album, with notable solos and a very moving acoustic break.

But everything seems to vanish in the “vain” or futile attempt to emulate I don't know who or what. Perhaps themselves, or maybe even the “White Skull” don't know.

Flat and predictable songs. Rock-solid heavy metal, sometimes speedy, sometimes slower and more cadenced. But, alas, almost (too) often boring and predictable. Few ideas, little substance, few breadcrumbs. Too much “disposable emptiness”. I'm sorry to be so harsh, but in my humble opinion, this time they've messed up big time (and, to tell the truth, with White Skull, at this rate, I’ll have to start getting used to these “missteps”).

A misstep? Let's hope so. Just as I hope the next album will boost the band's morale and mine, which is literally shattered…..

Sayonara!