Sometimes bands are just bad and you have to be really cruel and write a stinging review hoping said group doesn’t take it too personally. It’s the worst part of the job really, having to slag off someone’s hard labour. Still, the music ‘game’ is a harsh one – so here goes…
Forgotten Promises are on to a loser from the start because the vocalist really isn’t very good. Because deep down Graham Crowe knows he can’t hit many notes, he opts to sing within himself. It all sounds forced as a result and because of that, I immediately want to skip ‘7, 4 (My Words are Weapons)’, hoping it’s a one-off. It’s not. ‘I Am Winter’ uses the same guitar tone and the vocals are again pretty poor. Song-wise the structures are predictable and bland, and the constant long intros with boring guitar parts really don’t do the band any favours.
My advice would be to either work very, very hard on the vocals, or get a new singer that feels confident and comfortable with a mic. Then go on and try and write natural songs that don’t rip off whatever the flavour of the week currently is. Forgotten Promises have a lot of work to do if they want to reach the first rung of the ladder.
www.myspace.com/thefp
Paul