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The Forsaken are a 5 piece act from Sweden that play a very standard form of technical death metal. I am still developing my tooth for death metal and even I am not hearing much here that I haven't before. Nonetheless, these guys are definitely talented and are headed in the right direction.

"Traces Of The Past" storms open with a "A Time To Die" and you just know you are in for an ass kicking with the shredding guitar work and the standard introductory snarl. "One More Kill" kicks in next, which is one of the best tracks on the disc featuring an awesome chorus with a good dose of melody to go along with it. The next few tracks don't do much to stand out until "Serpent's Tongue." This track is a slaughter house! Very thrashy riffs, killer grooves supported by awesome vocal work. This is quite a catchy song that has the intro riffs continuing on throughout the song which makes it a memorable one. Very catchy. The good thing about this disc is that it is not simply filled with low guttural vocals throughout, as is the case with a lot death metal. There is a healthy dose of black metal styled rasps to go along with the music and fits in nicely. I guess that would be amongst the 'original' aspects incorporated into this album. We have the standard blast beats and chaotic lead work in addition to the solid song structures. One more thing about the music: the solos. They are out to prove something and do so very well. I only wish they made more use of the amazing guitarists they have at their disposal on the solos. They do get very technical but are also brutal at the same time.

This is the US version that I have and it features 4 bonus tracks, all of which are covers. They do smoking covers to Metallica's "Blackened" and "Creeping Death." Although, the original is quite hard to top, especially on "Creeping Death." Speaking of covers, this disc comes with cool cover art that is somehow reminding of Edvard Munch's famous painting "The Scream." Well…an apocalyptic version of it anyway.

One complaint I have with this disc however, is that it is too long for its own good. Some tracks seem to drag on and on and may have benefited from decreased track lengths. In any case, Fans of Hypocrisy, Death or maybe even At The Gates should get a kick out of this, but don't go in expecting some new ground breaking material. Won't hurt to check it out as this should be a worthy addition to a death metaller's collection.