Source: Album Artwork
It’s not often that we at MOSH are stumped by a release, we are professionals after all. However, this one is a real doozie. Um, so introducing Forever! from California G-Punk unit (hed) p.e.
Forever! is the real definition of a rollercoaster record. There are so many different styles crammed into this album it’s difficult to pinpoint an overall identity to resonate with. TheresThere’snts rap, hardcore and reggae spread all across the release, and not forgetting some weird vocals that sound like a waste disposal unit on ‘Hurt’. Being a disgusting rabble of metalheads there’s only so much reggae we can stomach, and Forever! has way too much for out liking. ‘Shadowridge’ for example starts off as the full Bob Marley before turning into some kind of skate punk gang vocal anthem. It’s just all too much.
It doesn’t stop there. ‘Together’ features what sounds like a fucking accordion for gods sake. It’s not all bad at least, it actually starts off pretty promising. ‘Live’ and ‘Closer’ both have a much heavier feel to them, which is scarily reminiscent of the early Skindred sound. We even heard a Babylon in there, sneaky. ‘Pay Me’ has a very Rage Against The Machine, fuck the system message to it which works, although again theres just no sense of identity with the record. We don’t know which of the many sounds is the norm here unfortunately. If we had to pick a favourite track from the record it would have to be ‘Waste’, the hardcore punk aethstetic is something that (hed) p.e can pull off really well, which makes us wonder why they’d bother with the reggae stuff to begin with. We understand people like dexterity, but when you can make a track sound this good but leave it sitting alone in the tracklist it’s kind of a missed opportunity.
Overall all then Forever! is drowned in low points, and unfortunately what few highs there are just aren’t enough to keep the record afloat. We don’t know if the exaggerated gangsta attitude is legit or a forced gimmick but we can safely say we’ve had enough of it for one evening. Finally we have to add, naming a bonus track ‘Ganja’… really?
