Interviews

 

God Forbid

 

Words: Rod Yates

 

If persistence really is the key to success, US metallers God Forbid must surely be nearing their time in the sun. Ten years on from their formation in New Jersey, the quintet have played a pivotal role in the resurgence of the American metal scene, but have watched much of the credit for its rebirth – and the accompanying record sales – go to the likes of Shadows Fall and Lamb Of God. The frustration almost came to a head a few years ago when, exhausted and broke, the band nearly split. But rather than sit around and curse the scene, bad luck or the programmers at MTV, God Forbid instead looked inward.

 

“We realised we needed to step our game up and make better music and become better musicians and a better live band,” explains guitarist Doc Coyle. “We didn’t blame anyone else. We just said, ‘This is what we need to do if we want to survive, this is what we need to do to step up to the big league.’ And we accomplished that.”

 

Patently a man not short of ambition, ask Coyle where he’d like to see God Forbid in 12 months’ time and he doesn’t hesitate:

 

“I’d like to be the biggest band in heavy metal. Obviously it’s very hard, it’s very competitive, but I feel like we have a great record. I feel like we have a record that stands out from the pack.”

 

The record in question is the band’s fourth, IV: Constitution Of Treason. An epic metal album in both scope and feel, it’s built on a foundation of fiery, precise riffing and soloing courtesy of Coyle and his brother Dallas, powerful double kick-infused drumming from Corey Pierce, anthemic melodies, intelligent song structures and the vicious vocals of Byron Davis. But what really sets Constitution apart is the fact that it’s a concept album with an involved and somewhat disturbing story-line. Even more frightening is the fact that the scenario it’s prophesising isn’t that far fetched.

 

“It starts in our current time, and the world is destroyed through nuclear holocaust, with very few survivors,” explains Coyle. “And that’s told in the first part. The second part talks about the survivors and how they start rebuilding society in a very religiously oppressive manner, cos people are really worried that the nuclear holocaust was a sign from God. One guy rises to go against these ideals, and there’s a small revolution amongst the people. Eventually this guy is killed, the revolution is squashed, but even after that there’s still this battle between these two different ideals. The third chapter fasts forward a few thousand years, and society has been rebuilt, technology is back, war is back, religion is back, corporations – everything is back, but now it’s even worse. It’s sort of about how we repeat the same mistakes over and over again.”

 

Is a concept like this a direct product of the paranoia and uncertainty that we’re currently living in?

 

“I think this story could have been told 20 years ago in the ’80s when we had the Cold War and 20 years before that during the Cuban Missile Crisis,” muses the guitarist. “History definitely has the ability to repeat itself, and I think these problems are only going to get worse.”

 

Though he denies it’s a pessimistic album, Coyle will concede that IV: Constitution Of Treason is a cynical one, stemming from his belief that the government can’t help but lie. He’ll also say that, should the opportunity ever come to make the story into a film, he’d like Viggo Mortensen and Clive Owen to play the leading roles, although that’s a long way in the future – something to strive for once the band have achieved the success Coyle believes is rightfully theirs. And if one particular career trend continues, that day will come.

 

“Our career has been an interesting journey, there’s been so many ups and down, but the one constant is that things have always gotten better for our band,” concludes Coyle. “Every album sells more than before, every time we go on tour the shows get better. Even though some bands are bigger than us or they’ve gotten bigger quicker, I’m happy with our progress cos it’s never slowed down.”

 

 

 

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