Forge of Customs - "Zeitgeist" (2011)

FORGE OF CUSTOMS "Zeitgeist"

Year: 2011
Genre: Negative Hardcore/Metal
Country: Russia

Track List:

1. Break It Down! (Intro)
2. Endgame
3. Zeitgeist
4. Social Package
5. Simply Fashion
6. Last Generation

bonus

1. Black Monday
2. Si Vis Pacem, Para Bellum!

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As you may have already noticed, I'm interested in metal and other underground music coming from the regions like Middle East. It's relatively easy to speak against Christianity while residing in already secular countries like Norway, but it takes a lot of courage to be critical of Islam in Iran or Saudi Arabia.
Speaking of Forge Of Customs - well, I don't think having one member in their lineup originally from Derbent (south Dagestan) makes them an "oriental metal" band, but it's hard not to notice that their music is heavily inspired by the political events in that region. Forge Of Customs is an anti-NWO, anti-consumerist, anti-religious fundamentalist metallic hardcore band with female vocals based in Moscow, and "Zeitgeist" is their first full-length release. While the music is somewhat repetitive and unoriginal by Western hardcore scene standards (plus I didn't like some clean vocal parts), it's already a promising release for an young Russian band. Leaving aside the black metal scene, we don't have that many political metal bands, and I hope FoS will eventually become one of the leading bands on our scene, along with Slaughter 2017.

The lyrics are overtly political, dealing with such subjects as terrorism, Moscow Metro bombings, consumerism, religious fanaticism and human stupidity. While their position is slightly more socially conservative compared with most other bands on my blog (as far as I understand, they mostly adhere to the sXe ethos), their lyrics are still honest and inspirational, and their music makes me feel real passion and anger. The archive includes 6 album tracks and two more tracks from their early demos, with slighlty different sound. As for me, "Sivis Pacem, Para Bellum" is the best track they've ever recorded, and I have no idea why it wasn't included in the album...