ALBUM REVIEW: Mirrors – Forgive

French melodic hardcore hopefuls FORGIVE struggle to find a way to sell themselves with any form of ingenuity on debut record Mirrors. While revolution is rarely possible with sub-genre’s in metal, the five piece are often so derivative that finding any elements of this record that makes it stand out as an individual is a trying task.

Tracks like I’ll Finally Sleep and Smoke Screen do a decent enough job at taking nods at The Current Will Carry Us-era COUNTERPARTS, but they never manage to get near the heights the Canadians reached with The Disconnect. Instead what you find here is a promising level of endeavour, but little substance to take away from it.

With that said, the one-two kick of Broken Family and Psyche find FORGIVE at their creative apex. With a blend of dizzying tempo changes, harsh vocal tears, and at times gorgeous guitar lines – this still isn’t the quintet particularly standing out in a crowd, but it’s at least melodic hardcore done to a high level, and in fairness – it’s hard to point your finger at any area of Mirrors and claim outright poor execution. The likes of Hell Is The Others and Engraved could probably slot into a Spotify melodic hardcore introductory playlist easily, but if you’ve already experienced the peak of what the genre has to offer – there’s every chance this record will pass you by without notice.

Mirrors isn’t done any favours by its production, either. The low tuned, caustic style of proceedings here might work brilliantly if you’re POISON THE WELL, but FORGIVE‘s efforts of clean, lush guitar melody often feel heavily diluted by the records overall sound. The same can be said for Stars Are Expected To Shine By Night too, only this time its vocalist Jean-Charles Guimard that gets shackled, with his opening chimes falling flat against the pitch of Alban Morin‘s snare drum.

FORGIVE have concocted a record here that is far from a disaster, but equally far from being a game changer for them either. If there was such a thing as middle of the road modern hardcore, Mirrors would be it. Unnecessarily long, and with an at times jarring production, this is a forgettable take on a genre that is currently stacked with talent.

Rating: 5/10

Mirrors is out now via Krod Records.

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