FORWARD TO EDEN metalcore Vegan SxE 2020
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Vegan metalcore act FORWARD TO EDEN continues his march through suffering and injustices of contemporary society

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Two years after his debut LP premiere here on IDIOTEQ, Tim Rule of Bound By Modern Age Records is back with a new release from his one man project FORWARD TO EDEN. Dubbed “Ready To Kill For The Cult”, the new LP is ready for pre-order today (Mark My Words Records, Bound By Modern Age Records) and we’re thrilled to give you its proper forerunner, the new album opener and title track below!

Mixed and mastered by Clintworks (Amon Amarth, Ensiferum, etc.), the new offering is a follow up to the 2018 debut album was co-released by Catalyst Records (US) and polarizes with militant animal rights themes and an oldschool sound between metalcore and death / black metal. The new LP sets new/old standards in the scene and impresses also with the contribution of important figures like Patrick “Rat” Poole (Statement, Unborn) and Dr. Naziri (Taliyah, Destroy Babylon). FTE is the 2013 started solo-project by Tim Rule (BBMA Records, Castigator, Through Chaos & Solitude, …).

I use this imagery and the arabic writing deliberately, because the symbolic of the (vegan) jihad with the four stages (as explained in the booklet*) really stuck with me. Like many other “holy scriptures”, I also read the Quran and I am pretty much open minded, but I also despise institutionalized religion and human atrocities done in the name of it, so I wouldnt commit to any existing religion as of now. I rather use this writing, knowingly in its refference and resemblence, with the aim to inflict fear into the evil carnists by the sheer look. I know that it might also appear deterring to some, but thats okay – makes it more mysterious and culty I guess.

Tim further explains the concept:

There is an eternal struggle in all of us, against the demons from within as well as the ever-trying evil, trying to influence us. In that fight, militance isn’t something we should be afraid of, but rather embrace it. The 4 manifestations of the Vegan Jihad (from arabic “struggle” or “to strive for some objective”): It’s a sacred striving to purify ourselves and the world around us from all corruption and sin. This must start with Jihad Of The Heart – to manifest the internalized Holy War against the evil traits that first take roots within ourselves. Hunt the hypocrisy down and bring it to an end. The second must be Jihad Of The Tongue or Word – to proclaim the Straight Path, especially to those whose actions we strive against. The third is Jihad Of The Hand, it represents the reality that when a conflict arises it is never permissible to employ excessive force in an attempt to solve that which might be resolved with a simple word, or with a hand holding back from another. Jihad Of The Sword is the final level of Jihad, that is simultaneously both permissible and obligatory only once the other manifestations have been Ascended. When one has waged Holy War against their base desires and illusory notions of “self”, when one has proclaimed the right way to live and has manifested that same as the Straight Path upon which they tread, when one has made every peaceful attempt at intervention, prevention and striving, then and only then does it become necessary to escalate force to the level of tangible violence.

Carnists always try to justify their behavior by phrases like “live and let live” or “as long as you don’t harm anybody”, not noticing that they are directly responsible for the cruel deaths (and horrifying living-conditions up to that inevitable point) of countless innocent, sentient beings.

Each day, your dietary choices mean the difference of live and death to somebody! This is why, in terms of carnism, for the general public you can’t really speak of a belief-system. Most people don’t “belief” in dominating, torturing and ultimately killing animals; simply for their own joy but they also don’t belief in equal rights for all sentient beings – they even negate the scientifically proven fact that a pig or a cow feels the very same pain as a dog or a cat; has the same emotions and the same wishes and dreams.

Every difference that we want to make ourselves believe, is simply imaginary. And yet, the people in power, the ones who truly understand carnism, want us to believe in this, in their crooked system. A system, build on capitalistic views, which only works through the constant indoctrination of lies (see page one booklet for more info on this).

We’re sick of being force-fed with their bullshit and our numbers keep growing – it’s time to act accordingly and kill this rotting system.

*The intro samples are taken from the ’97s Ghibli masterpiece “Princess Mononoke”

Ready To Kill For The Cult lyrics:

You’re ready to tolerate the suffering, as long as it’s not yours
You’re ready to look away and hide, to act deaf and lie
You’re ready to just walk away and abide, to ignore their cries

You’re ready to accept the exploitation, as long as it profits you
You’re ready to condone a cruel death, rape, neglect and abuse
To defend your wretched ideology, you’re ready to kill for the cult

No longer will I tolerate the suffering, as long as it’s not yours
I will bring forth what you try to hide, unveil your stupid lies
Will hunt you down, so we can switch sides with the hunter and the innocent life

No longer will I accept the exploitation, this madness ends with you
I won’t condone another death in the name of carnistic capitalists
To stand in defense of all, I am ready to kill for the cult

To stand in defense of all innocent life, with open arms I embrace militancy
Knowing that your aim is justified, for the vegan straight edge, I am ready to kill for the cult

No longer will I tolerate the suffering, no longer will I accept the exploitation
This carnistic madness, it has to end…
To stand in defense of all, I am ready to kill for the cult

German metalcore and metallic hardcore scene

Was amazing in the late 90s/early 00s but kinda fell into the wrong hands after that… We still have oldschool bands like Heaven Shall Burn, which will always be the spearhead of German metalcore, but the current underground scene is either generic modern death/djent/whatever-core or dull beatdown hardcore. Sometimes a good band appears on the map and makes things really interesting again, like King Apathy for example, but then they disband again as fast as they came…

It’s a short-lived scene, especially if you’re into veganism and straight edge. I started xResistancex with some friends early/mid last year, but already broke-up again after 3 line-up changes just a couple months later. If you’re reading this and are a xvx drummer from germany, feel free to get in touch!

Other bands and artists worth a check

Watch Me Die – their new promo/comp song is one of the best I’ve heard in a while. Can’t wait for their new record!

Memento. – Demo 2020 (The Coming Strife Records). Favorite demo this year so far!

Cleansing – One of the most promising new sxe bands if you ask me. Already working on a new record right now!

Enslave – Metallic sxe hardcore from russia. Their new self-released EP exceeds the demo by far!

Vital Force – new EP now also out on BBMA. Just keeps getting better with each release – virtually the Abnegation of Russia.

Caged – promising new vegan straight edge band from italy with (ex-)members of To Ashes. Coming on Euro-Tour in mid 2020.

Embody The Chaos true 90s style metalcore from Japan. still seems to be in the right hands over there!

Contention – Good old metalcore from Florida. Very promising 3-song demo tape.

…and the list goes on. So, globaly the scene is still alive and well, but on a small, geographic scale, most of these bands are probably alone and isolated in their scene.

Thanks to the interwebs we can at least get connected and do the living-room mosh to each others riffs.

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