I saw THE FORSAKEN opening for NILE and THE HAUNTED in Hamburg and I wasn’t really impressed. There wasn’t much action on stage (okay, if you know the “MarX”: there isn’t much space on stage anyway) and the sound wasn’t good, either. Consequently, I didn’t buy their debut album. Reading a couple of quite enthusiastic reviews and interviews made me decide to review their second album and when I finally pressed play, my first thought was: not bad at all!!! THE FORSAKEN offer an energetic and variable mix of old school Death and Thrash Metal. Check out ‘The Hatebreed’, great piece of fury the Death Metal way or ‘Dethroned’ (reminds me a lot of MORBID ANGEL, killer!) and ‘Cold Flesh Colony’ for the Swedish influences in THE FORSAKEN. The good thing about “Arts Of Desolation” is that the band manages to keep you interested all through the album. I’m not too fond of Ander’s vocals, he should try to vary them a little more, but all in all I can recommend this album whole-heartedly! www.theforsaken.net