Blood Blast Distribution – 23 Jun 2023
Fore loses a limb, comes back stronger
OK, get it? haha… Fore Skin?!? Everyone get a chuckle in.
Surprisingly, though, the good-natured, if somewhat base, humor of the band name + album title might make the incoming listener think that Fore is some type of goofy thrash band in the vein of M.O.D. or Scatterbrain and, indeed, the intro track “Welcome Wagon” is basically the first part of the humorous trailer for the 1996 John Carpenter/Kurt Russell flick Escape from L.A.
Even their band photo shows three guys who look like they’re having way too much fun.
But that’s pretty much where the silliness stops. The intro is followed up with no break by “Wild Out.” Chonky palm-muted guitar accompanied by breakneck beats and a solid rolling bass. Then the vocals come in and you’re like “what the shit?!?” Instead of rapid-fire syllabic verses, bass/vocalist Brian Stephenson gently utters “Get me the hell out of / Heeeerrre” in what you’ll soon find to be quite a change from the 2020 debut Hombres.
We’ll get to those vocals in a second, but of note is that the band has dropped a member in former bassist Christian Geisler since their last release, turning the Fore-some (haha) into a trio, with Brian also taking up Geisler’s bass duties.
Back to the music AND those vocals. Clearly in the time between releases the band has been honing their craft. Was Hombres a bit more of the (slightly?) generic thrash-y kind of punk? Maybe? I still liked it a lot. But on Skin, the band has really focused their game into a unique experience. There’s a lot of metal influence here, to be true. But the evolution of Stephenson’s vocals are really the big star of the show. There’s an unnatural cadence to the delivery that makes me think a lot of dramatic vocal flare of Rush coupled with Shudder to Think and bred with the Today’s Empires-era musicality of Propagandhi, and a dahs of any number of prog rock or dirty southern rock bands thrown in for the hell of it.
The vocals do move with the tempo of the music often, but there is also the regular use of an off-tempo delivery that simply begs your ear to pay more attention than you would expect to. This coupled with backing vocals that appear to be(?) from the other band members (Jeremie Kling – drums, Taylor Nordberg – guitar), but also definitely at times is Stephenson over-dubbing.
That’s not to say that the songs aren’t quick and hard. “Welcome to My Ted Talk” features a furiously fast tempo, with the verses delivered at a slower pace, and the chorus matching the speed. The breakdown is catchy and the delivery is top-notch. “Dirty Ol Hippie Mantra,” ‘Nothing Means Nothing” and more follow the same recipe.
“Full Hard Swing” is a tough nut to crack. The start of the song is the weird muted beast with simpering vocals, but the chorus is one of the catchiest of the year. It’s both an example of Fore’s current direction, while being possibly the most extreme in style on the album.
Skin is a really exciting release, and its oddity perhaps gives it an appeal beyond the typical “hardcore melodic punk” band that they profess themselves to be. There’s a lot of drama in the music, but it’s also suitably fast. The rhythm section of Kling and Stephenson really nail it, and Nordberg simply doesn’t make any mistakes. Everything is tight, but not forensic– technicality for technicality’s sake. It is also interesting, and appealing in a way that a lot of this genre simply isn’t to outside audiences.
If there is a flaw to the album, and it is a minor one that maybe you’ll get different traction with, but it felt a bit too long. Not counting the intro, it’s thirteen tracks of music, but I think it could’ve been trimmed down to eleven or even ten to make it a tighter, more concise package. The problem is that I couldn’t tell you which songs to cut (and throw onto an EP or something), but I just feel it in my gut that it would’ve benefitted from being a couple of songs shorter.
In the end, these metal-masters apply their craft to melodic punk in a way that few, if any, are doing. Their excellent debut now must take a step back and let their sophomore release shine as the best album in the Fore discography…. for now?
Skin is available to order at Bandcamp (including a bundle with a CD and an honest-to-goodness oven mitt)
the white drew carey (aka – Jeff Sorley) is the founder and head editor of TGEFM. He’s lived (outside of) Chicago, Madison WI, (ugh) Penn State, Lyon FR, Oxford UK, central New Jersey, and now within earshot of SFO in the Bay Area. When not scouring the web for more great bands and labels to post about, he also spends time drawing (mostly) silly sci-fi and anime stuff under the name Asplenia Studios.
