Forgotten Souls of Antiquity - 4 songs

Forgotten Souls of Antiquity

4 songs
self-released; 2013

3.4 out of 5

By Ted Rogen

Forgotten Souls of Antiquity released a four-song promo for their upcoming album called cleverly enough 4 songs. I'll say this off the bat I hope they get a professional engineer involved before they release the album. The songs are there but the production needs improvement. There's a lot instrumentation and it sounds convoluted with a muddy low end with almost no definition. Despite the production issues I dug their vibe. They delve into a number of sub-genres of rock but they don’t got too far as they could out of place.

The first song on the sample is called “Norfolk Line,” which is the most straightforward and predictable songs amongst the four. It’s a high paced, energy-filled rock song that would be best heard live. “Spider’s Requiem” is where things start to get interesting. They mix things up and lose the distortion for a while. The song kind of reminded me of the song that is played during the beginning credits of “True Detective” although Forgotten Souls of Antiquity rock it out. One thing that was a bit frustrating about the song is that it lasted 2:40 and it felt like they went from 0-60 way too fast. The beginning had excellent jangly guitar and an effective talking part that could have been at least revisited once or played up a bit more. They get in rock mode and spend a bit too much time with a guitar solo. ”Three AM” was the highlight of the four for me. They experiment with a Russian circus vibe and it reminded me of something I could hear from Tom Waits. 

They close with “Desolation Ridge,” which flirts with a progressive country sound.  It’s a song that you should listen to with a whiskey in one hand and a cigarette in the other. I wouldn't be surprised if Quentin Tarantino picked up the music here for one of his next films. It had a very thematic feel to it like it revolved around a protagonist. 

Overall, the band seems to be headed in the right direction. 4 songs is a bit rough around the edges but it points to good things to come on their upcoming full-length. 

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