Foretold

Ancient Rites + Foretold, Dynamo (Eindhoven) Live review
Concert date: April 18th 2008
Source: www.gothtronic.com

Dynamo 2008:The first band of this evening is Foretold, a Trash/Death-Metal band from Eindhoven. This very enthusiastic band plays his very nice pounding Death-Metal with a lot of dedication. The only half filled Dynamo reacts very well on Foretold. But when the gentlemen started their version of “Beertje Colargol” the audience really got the hang of it. This was due to the fact that most of the audience are 30-something and knew that song of a tv-serie from their youth. Foretold played well this evening, so very well, that I could not buy a cd of the band, they were all sold out.

FORETOLD - "Fuck Carnaval 2008", Hall of Fame (Tilburg) Live review
Concert date: February 3rd 2008
Source: Westgeest fotografie

Fuck Carnaval 2008: Vorig jaar vooral een gezellig onder-onsje, dit jaar toch echt een goeie volle bak. Nog steeds een ons-kent-ons bijeenkomst van de Tilburgse rock/metalscene, maar deze keer in grote getalen.
Bij de eerste paar acts is het nog relatief rustig, maar met het spijkerharde All Heads Rise komt de sfeer er toch echt lekker in en tijdens het lokaal behoorlijk populaire Static Noise staat de grote zaal van de Hall of Fame toch echt goed vol. De voorste paar rijen wagen zich opgewekt aan een moshpit, het bier vloeit/spuit rijkelijk en de sfeer is opperbest. Coverband Tributor kan ook op een volle zaal rekenen. De setlist is leuk, de uitvoering toch wel erg wankel. Vooral bij afsluiter the Ace of Spades gaat de band regelmatig in de fout. Het mag de pret allemaal niet drukken. In de kleinere zaal van de Hall kan Milkman op een behoorlijke groep lokale fans rekenen. Wederom gaan de eerste paar rijen vrolijk los, duikt er een gast-zanger het podium op en wordt de gitaarhals door presentator Mano van een rubberen keuken-handschoen voorzien (?). Verrassingen van de avond waren All Heads Rise, dat er toch wel heel lomp op klapte. Veel power, veel agressie.

En ons eigen Foretold. Een van de weinige grotere namen in de Tilburgse scene die ik nog nooit voor de camera heb gehad. Het is direct duidelijk waarom 'the Butcher' William bekend staat als 'de engste stem van Tilburg'. Op z'n dooie gemakje banjert hij over het podium terwijl hij verbaal dood en verderf de zaal in slingert. Very nice.

FORETOLD - Factor CD review
Reviewed by Verrottuh on 1-dec-2006.
Source: www.digital-steel.com

This is the debutalbum from the Dutch band Foretold. The band has been around for several years but under different names and they changed the name into Foretold when vocalist William entered.

This is my second encounter with them, I saw them once as an opener for the band ''Embedded''. Back then they made a solid and good impression on me and now I got there first album in my hands. O, Happy Day.
The deathmetal that these guys play is a relief. Do not expect the populair US-deathmetal but an mid-paced old-school version like old Cannibal Corpse and Six Feet Under. But this is far more interesting than the last band I mentioned. There are plenty of riffs and solo's which bands like that don't play. Now and then the music has a doomy impact as in the song Drowning in Emptiness. It's too bad the overall originality isn't that high.
Overall the sound is just brutal. The vocals remind me of the band “Paradise Lost” (the album 'Lost paradise'). The two live-songs are in the same vein as the other songs and have an 'in-your face' sound. The produktion is good and pretty clear with plenty of room for each instrument.
Everyone who likes the old-school death should give it a try.

I’ts hard to give this release an honest grade, if i should listen to my to my gutfeeling it would be high, if I should listen to my mind, it wouldn't.
So an average grade between those two would be the most fair one.

FORETOLD - Tilburgs HeadbangersFest Extase, Tilburg (Live review)
Concert date: October 21st 2005
Reviewed by Kees Schijven on October 11th 2006.
Source: www.mariosmetalmania.com

As I arrived too late, I missed the first two bands (CEREMONY OF OPPOSITES and CHAINSAW) unfortunately, from what I heard Chainsaw had a real good live performance so I'm sorry I missed that.
The atmosphere was great, and the weather too, so a lot of bangers were outside on the terrace when I got there, but also in the venue there was a crowd, so it must have been nearly sold out I guess. As I didn't know most of the bands, I was curious what to expect and was going to be surprised by some bands as I found out.

But one band I did wanna see for sure was FORETOLD, after I reviewed their CD 'Factor' for Mario's Metal Mania (see Archive CD/DVD Reviews), I was anxious to see them perform live.
When I got inside the venue they had already started, and were playing
'I am the way' which sounded very brutal! They had a real good sound, and played very thight, and William's throat sounded awesome, one of the best dutch grunters if you ask me.
They played a lot of songs from their CD, and did a good job too, so for me this performance was brutal perfection.

FORETOLD - Factor CD review
Reviewed by Kees Schijven on June 2006.
Source: www.mariosmetalmania.com

Foretold was founded in 1999 and went through several name changes, and a series of singers before they came up with this one. They have already released a 4 track demo "return to zero" in 2002 under the name Altered States. Early 2004 they found a new singer in William, which made their definite line up complete, then they also changed their name into Foretold. Early this year they recorded a full album "Factor", this is the first I heard of them, and it's a fucking brutal killer piece! This is old school death metal the way I like it, it even reminds me a bit of cannibal corpse. The long death grunts of William are brutal, and some nice guitar riffs are on this as well, it sounds real tight. This contains 7 studio tracks and 2 live tracks, and has a well done booklet, although the track listing on the back isn't quite correct, but on the inside the lyrics are in proper order, except for the 2 live tracks, but who cares. You don't hear me complaining with this music, it's great just listen to songs like 'In gods hell', 'In for the kill' and 'I am the way', with some genius arrangements in them. Also the live tracks are very brutal in your face, with a clean sound, we need more of this! Well as soon as I get the chance I will go check 'm out live, which will probably be at the Tilburg Headbangersfest. So if your into this kind of old school death metal come check 'm out on September 30 in Tilburg.

FORETOLD - Factor CD review
Reviewed by Carla Lendfers
Source: www.quintessence.sh

After seeing them perform on the metal battle and on other shows in the Netherlands Foretold from Tilburg (Netherlands) is getting more and more known in the metal scene. Especially old-school nineties death-metal fans would like and love it because the voice of William reminds me of Nick Holmes in the best days of Paradise Lost during their album "Lost Paradise" and "Icon". The long death grunts without compromise is something I miss in for instance the new death styles nowadays. The new album of these guys called "Factor" has 9 songs on them with lyrics and all printed in their well made booklet. This album is mid-tempo, low bass orientated with sometimes doom flavoured riffs spheres and sounds overall brutal with sometimes a "dry" moment in the sound. Still the impression overall is good and I like the arrangements made in the songs; "In Gods Hell" and "In for the Kill". The begin parts of the title song "Factor" and "Drowning in Emptiness" are cool as well, with a nice reminder of Rob Zombie`s movie "The Devil`s Rejects". The last two songs "Return to Zero" and "Counterpart" are live songs and very "in your face"! Well done. For more info, ordering this CD and live gigs check www.Foretold.nl !

Carla

FORETOLD, Infected Shit & Southern Werewolf Farm
Odeon, Veldhoven. Concert date: October 21st 2005
Reviewed by Mark van Eijk on May 23, 2005.
Source: www.frozenleaves.com

This Friday yours truly went to see (and of course hear) Infected Shit, Southern Werewolf Farm and Foretold in Odeon. I had only just discovered Foretold the day before the concert, but the songs on their site had made me curious.

Odeon is a small venue and you could notice that they had nobody who would handle the lights. So for the before the first band I helped figure out a setting of the lights that would provide a bit of atmosphere, but still would allow me to take some nice pictures.

Finally Foretold, a medolic death/thrash metal band from Brabant, would perform for about an hour and a half. What really struck me was the unconventional way the guitar and bass-parts were combined in some songs. Together with the William's powerful vocals and their speed-variations within the song made it interesting to listen to down to the last song.
Again, the lights were mostly kept the same way during the performance, but especially Marco (the bass player) and William kept bouncing around the stage and interacting with the bandmembers and the crowd, turning this into a show without the need for dynamic lights. For one of the last songs Teun, the vocalist of Infected Shit, was invited on stage to sing (or whatever you want to call it) along.

Conclusion:
If you like deathmetal, both Infected Shit and Foretold will definitely keep you listening. For people who like a bit more melody and lyrics you can actually follow, Southern Werewolf Farm is worth your attention. If you get the chance to see (and of course hear) one of these bands live, you should go check them out.
Unfortunately for me the concert ended around 01:30, so I had to walk home instead of taking a bus, which took me an hour. But the concerts of this evening were certainly worth the long walk home.

FORETOLD Demo review
Reviewed by Ruud Lemmen on May 2005.
Source: www.quintessence.sh

When listening to the Foretold 2004 demo I immediately feel 14 years old again. It seems I went back into time with this one 12 years. In a time were polka beats, doomy rythms and an in your face approach were combined very successfully by many bands.
I don`t know what happened in the years after that, but for some reason this kind of music kind of vanished from the front, which is a shame.
Foretold from the Netherlands are obviously willing to bring this long forgotten musical genre back into perspective. First of all, the sound on their demo is very well. Of all the demos I heard (and due to my profession a lot of demos per month get heard each and every month) this is by far one of the better ones soundwise. The only complaint I might have on that department is that the sound (especially the drums) sound a bit too digital, which isn`t neccesarily a bad thing, it just collides a bit with my view of how this kind of music should sound.
The 3 tracks contain a form of midtempo death metal with a brutal oldschool orientated vocalist and every now and then a more up tempo outburst.
The second song on this 3 track demo, entitled "I Am The Way" is the strongest, I am not sure why, but it must have something to do with the simplistic yet very groovy structure of the song. Definitely one of those songs you can snap your neck on live without going wrong anywhere. This is also the only track that has some eerie, yet very evil female backing vocals, which surprisingly worked out very well.
Anyway, I can go on and on about this demo, but you should check it out yourselve if the above description appeals to you. The band is performing live all accross the Netherlands as much as possible, and they are quite enjoyable live. A good demo, from a promising band.

FORETOLD & Fuelblooded 013 BatCave, Tilburg. Concert date: May 22nd 2005
Reviewed by Neithan on May 23, 2005.
Source: www.vampire-magazine.com

So you have a warm Sunday and nothing to do. All of unexpected things, but than comes an e-mail if I feel like to see a band live at 013 in Tilburg, that very same afternoon…
Hell yeah, The Tilburg Metal Matinee; seeing new bands for only a little entrance fee, seeing people you know and enjoy the music, afterwards followed by a DJ-set of only metal classiss. Today I heard, very appropriate, the DJ play “God of Wrath” by Metal Church; indeed with David Wayne on the vocals, who died so sadly two weeks ago…

Anyway, I walked in a little late, so that I dropped into the middle of the first act Foretold. Nice playing; tight and not too complicated death metal, an din the end two songs that rather vary a lot from the first tracks… Paradise’s Lost cover ‘As I Die’ and an own doomy like song ended the set. I have to say that the Paradise Lost cover was bold, you could pick easier and better fitting songs that this one, and this version didn’t work out well.. Something bass player and current ‘a little less active’ Vampire Magazine member Stijn immediately agreed with, saying that that song today just didn’t work out. The rest was done in a tight sound, and there was only a little interaction with the audience and few action on stage. For the rest, I can’t tell you that much, as I am not so much in death metal… But all in all it was nice… Thanks to Michiel from Fuelblooded I later found out that the last song was a cover too, by Tiamat ('The Sleeping Beauty)...

FORETOLD Demo review
Reviewed by Mario on March 2005.
Source: www.mariosmetalmania.com

Foretold is a band from Tilburg, The Netherlands. Foretold was founded in 1999 by Kim Sloothaak (drums), Harrie van Erp (guitars) and Mathijs Ansems (bass). They went through several name changes before settling as In Gods Hell at first. After several line-up changes, early 2004 the line-up was finally completed as they found a vocalist in William Nijhof. After some disscussion they decided to change the band name into Foretold.
The band plays a mix of deathmetal with some classic metal elements. I hear a lot of good, but not original, guitarparts and singer William has a throat like a drain. He sometimes reminds me to Karl Willets (Bolt Thrower) or Frank Mullen (Suffocation). This CDemo is recorded at "The Freezing Factory" which is owned by guitarplayer Harrie "Poser" van Erp. It all sounds good and the lay out of the demo is looking great!! Musically it can be described as a mix of bands like Soilwork, (old) Paradise Lost, GGFH and i also hear some Metallica riffs ('I am the way'). Just take a look at their website and listen to these songs or better; just order the demo!

FORETOLD JC De Poort, Dongen
Concert date: 29th of January 2005
Reviewed by Ricardo on March 13 2005.
Source: www.vampire-magazine.com

Foretold just released their demo (which you can download on their homepage) and it is quite a good output if you ask me. Technical thrash with hints of death metal, all kind of breaks, speed differences and with adding a low grunt you have a close summary of Foretold . Let's say that Watchtower is one of those bands that is highly appreciated within Foretold. All members have experience on stage which results in a tight and at some parts high level performance. Guitarists Stijn (ex-Opacity of Evil) and Harrie (ex-Spina Bifida) make eachother complete and the songwriting allow them to do that. Sometimes you have demobands who can't play live as they play during recording, fortunately Foretold can. Strangely enough...and I can't even believe it that I'm saying this, I'm not that fond of the low grunt. Maybe because I expect another kind of vocals with this kind of metal. Maybe something like Mike Browning (Nocturnus) during "The Key"? Or maybe I just get use of it. With "Drowning in Emptiness" and "I Am the Way" Foretold played some stuff of their new demo and like the other 2 bands, they played a cover. 2 acutally...and not the usual ones. Hearing Tiamat's "Sleeping Beauty" or Paradise Lost's "As I Die" is always a pleasure. I think this is how you start a band. Rehearsing alot, releasing a demo, playing alot of gigs and get your name noticed. Result: a good gig.

ALTERED STATES - RETURN TO ZERO Demo review
Reviewed by Ron on December 29 2002.
Source: www.vampire-magazine.com

Altered States is the band of Vampire Stijn, and to ensure the readers that a honest review will be given, Ricardo sent it to me (you ....). Well, I'll give it my best shot then.
First of all the band name was taken from the movie, not from the Sepultura song. The band contains 2 ex-Opacity Of Evil members who are accompanied by a new guitar player. Their metal is mainly thrash based but some melodic heavy/power influences are to be found as well. The songs contain a good portion of variation, besides very cool fast songs ("Counterpart" and "Divine rebirth") one can also find grooving midpaced songs ("Return to zero" and "Drowning in emptiness"). The band members can handle their instruments well but musicwise do not push the technical envelope. Though the songs aren't really simple and straigthforward, they do possess a certain amount of catchiness and stick to your brain after a few spins in your CD-player. At times, Altered States reminds me of the "A thousands dreams ago" album of Belgian death/thrash band Exoto. Overall, the band has come up with an interesting mixture of styles.

The vocals are also variated, mostly growls but occasional grunts, clean vocals and spoken lines are added to ensure that boredom is not an option. I do like the differing vocal styles but the clean vocals aren't really good and they spoil "Counterpart" a bit. My advice would have been to take either singing lessons or a good clean singer. Would have been because a singer will audition for the clean vocals position soon. The band also has recruited a flesh made bass player now, his name is Marco. The growls of lead singer Stijn remind me of someone whose name I can't recover from my memory, fuck! The production is good, it's clear but could have been bigger, heavier but this is due to time and money limits of corpse. My favorite song is "Return to zero" because of the cool grunt and the groovy chorus making one easily screaming along.
Some details for the freaks: the sample in "Drowning in emptiness" is from the movie Solar Crisis and the samples in "Divine rebirth" are from Event Horizon, the movie from which Grave also some samples from for their latest album.
In short, a recommended CDemo from a promising band that will hopefully continue to push their envelope. With this CDemo and the extended line-up in mind I'm looking forward to future releases. Check it out if you want to get acquainted with another fine example of the flourishing Dutch extreme metal scene!