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Forbidden Season’s 2017 EP, Paramnesia, hinted at a band with hunger and a decent grasp of melody. So it’s frustrating that the Italian metalcore quintet have eschewed the opportunity to blaze a trail on their debut. Instead, Promise clings stubbornly to the genre’s deep-rooted template – if only the forgettable choruses of Thank You For The Venom and Wormhole cleaved to the inside of your cranium with the same white-knuckle ferocity. Smatterings of electronica do add an atmospheric dynamic, but on the whole this is a samey record, laden with tinny production, repetitive Asking Alexandria-style riffs and thin melodies with no real spark of invention to lift it above the prosaic. It takes a lot to stand out from an increasingly homogeneous pack in this game, and Promise isn’t going to launch Forbidden Seasons into metalcore’s next stratum just yet.
