{"id":9597,"date":"2017-09-02T15:14:42","date_gmt":"2017-09-02T19:14:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.altwire.net\/?p=9597"},"modified":"2023-12-06T06:39:05","modified_gmt":"2023-12-06T11:39:05","slug":"album-review-sons-texas-forged-fortitude","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/altwire.net\/ru\/album-review-sons-texas-forged-fortitude\/","title":{"rendered":"[Album Review] Sons Of Texas: Forged By Fortitude"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sophomore album by Sons Of Texas due for release September 22nd.<\/em><\/p>\n

After a string of support slots for the likes of Hellyeah and several festival appearances across America, the Texas quintet hit the studio in January to record the follow up to 2015\u2019s Baptised In The Rio Grande<\/em>.\u00a0 At the helm was producer Josh Wilbur, who has worked with such metal pedigree as Lamb Of God, Hatebreed and System Of A Down.<\/p>\n

Sons Of Texas<\/a>\u2019 southern brand of groove metal showcase their musical ability by taking a more technical direction on their new album. Mark Morales sings opener \u2018Buy In To Sell Out\u2019 with the authentic rage of someone who really has travelled the rough roads of the music industry and come out the other side worse for wear yet tenacious. Mike Villareal\u2019s incessant pounding drums and a ripping guitar section further expresses the band\u2019s defiant attitude.<\/p>\n

Nick Villarreal starts off \u2018Feed The Need\u2019, single and second track, with a simplistic yet powerful bass line; when played live it will surely make the earth shake. You can feel the Pantera influence all over this song, especially the way it builds up to a catastrophic breakdown. \u2018Feed The Need\u2019 doesn\u2019t relent on the heaviness, but has enough sing-along parts to be a real crowd pleaser at shows.<\/p>\n

This band knows how to do a sincere and poignant song right. Instead of the twangy country-style ballads bands of this genre usually deliver, \u2018Cast In Stone\u2019 doesn\u2019t let down the energy, and feels as if it has an angry desperation to be heard, making it feel instantly meaningful and memorable to the listener. The rhythm section and Morales\u2019 mastery of both clean and unclean vocals make for a crushing combination. \u2018Cast In Stone\u2019 also stands out as the most lyrically impressive track on the album, with lines such as \u201cI\u2019m no man cast in stone, belonging to nothing, on my own\u201d.<\/em> The theme of detachment and uncertainty is especially relatable.<\/p>\n

The bluesy intro to \u2018Beneath The Riverbed\u2019 instantly makes you think of the Wild West and Texas; clearly this is the band\u2019s demonstration of pride for their native Lone Star State. This feel-good tune with its garnish of acoustic guitar would perfectly soundtrack a BBQ party on a late summer\u2019s evening, complete with shots of Bourbon. \u2018Beneath The Riverbed\u2019 also stand out because it\u2019s less heavy and quite a cheerful tune – it even has a sing and clap along section! The same enthusiasm sadly can\u2019t be shown for \u2018Turnin The Page\u2019. This track is let down by the lyrics, which rely too heavily on clich\u00e9s (there is also some Michael Jackson style \u2018whoo-ing\u2019 which is just out of place). The whole song just sounds a bit Nickleback and rather contrived.<\/p>\n

Sons Of Texas might need to work on their flirting, because I\u2019m not sure how flattered a woman would be if you described her as \u2018penicillin\u2019, which is a type of blue mold. Other than that, \u2018Wasp Woman\u2019 gets the album back on track and is an absolute screamer. \u2018Wasp Woman\u2019 has a double onslaught of grinding guitar from Jon Olivarez and Jes De Hoyos. It also has probably the best guitar solo of the album with fancy fretwork that\u2019s guaranteed to shred your ears. Morales describes the \u2018Wasp Woman\u2019 as the ultimate dangerous seductress, culminating in the bellowing of \u201cSHE\u2019S FINE!<\/em>\u201d It got me singing along from first listen and subsequently fantasising about how huge it\u2019s going to be live.<\/p>\n

The title track \u2018Forged By Fortitude\u2019 is probably the heaviest on the album, with commanding guitars and drums and in your face vocals. Lyrically it\u2019s another song about how tough the music biz can be and how na\u00efve you are when you start out (\u201cIf I knew back then what I know now<\/em>\u201d and to drive the point home: \u201cI\u2019m choking on reality.\u201d<\/em>)<\/p>\n

But the overall message of the song and indeed the album is a positive one, from the greatest hardships comes the greatest art. The record ends on a high with a slice of southern sleaze, \u2018Slam With The \u041e\u0433\u043d\u0438<\/a> On\u2019. The final track has a fun classic rock feel and the perfect amount of whiny guitar slides, building into a killer bridge.<\/p>\n

Forged By Fortitude<\/em> showcases a musical intricacy that can be uncommon in this genre. It\u2019s the natural progression from Baptised In The Rio Grande<\/em> with a similar but sharper and more refined sound, but without losing any of the energy and aggression. Sons Of Texas are prime examples of the reliable meat \u2018n potatoes metal that keep our heads banging; what they lack in originality they make up for in energy. The Sons are good at what they do – deliver what the fans want and you can\u2019t ask for any more than that. Overall, Forged By Fortitude<\/em> is a very satisfying album – you won\u2019t be disappointed.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sophomore album by Sons Of Texas due for release September 22nd. After a string of support slots for the likes … \u0427\u0438\u0442\u0430\u0442\u044c \u0434\u0430\u043b\u0435\u0435<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":9598,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","transcript_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9597","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-reviews","generate-columns","tablet-grid-50","mobile-grid-100","grid-parent","grid-50"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/altwire.net\/ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9597","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/altwire.net\/ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/altwire.net\/ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/altwire.net\/ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/altwire.net\/ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9597"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/altwire.net\/ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9597\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/altwire.net\/ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9598"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/altwire.net\/ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9597"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/altwire.net\/ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9597"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/altwire.net\/ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9597"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}