But hey, I'm reviewing this as a critic, so it's okay for me to like it!

Earthsblood is God Forbid's fifth full-length album, and after listening to Gone Forever, IV: Constitution of Treason, and Earthsblood straight through, there are two things that stand out. First, the band seems to be including more clean vocals (occasionally to unintentionally comical effect); and second, the band is moving in a somewhat progressive direction. I hate to name drop a comparison to Opeth, but there were times while listening to the CD that was what I thought of. Not in the sense of "This could be an Opeth album," but more like "Maybe they were listening to them some when they wrote these parts."

Earthsblood opens with "The Discovery," a mellow piano and violin intro that brings in plodding drums and a slow, heavy guitar riff. The calm doesn't last long before leading into the thrashy melodeath "The Rain," which might be considered equal parts Soilwork and Shadows Fall. The clean vocal passages are a little surprising at times, but they work well for most of the song--just the end sounds a little off. "Empire of the Gun" starts off with a little bit of a punk sound before throwing the thrash riffs and a few of the -core breakdowns at you. "War of Attrition" is another thrashy song with a slower bridge that sets you up for a series of heavy grooves. "The New Clear," one of the longer songs, has very calm intro and plenty of clean vocals that caught me off guard the first time around but which sound good on further listens. The song picks up, then drifts off into a more atmospheric section before picking up into the solo section and finally an 80s metal riff.

"Shallow" goes back to the regular formula, a mix of the thrashy sound, melodeath bits, and breakdowns. The last four tracks are, like "The New Clear," over 6 minutes, and in fact the title track clocks in at just over 9 minutes. Keeping with the progressive tendencies I mentioned before, these songs have several different parts, mixing up the heavy bits with mellower or atmospheric passages, and clean and growled or shouted vocals. The title track in particular is sprawling, but comes back several times to a tremolo picking-driven hook that is incredibly catchy. The closing track, "Gaia (The Vultures)" alternates between the clean and screamed vocals, and this is where the clean vocals get comical--we've had 45ish minutes of music full of screamed and growled vocals, and then you choose to sing the line "what did you say?/say it again you piece of s***"? Otherwise, "Gaia" is a pretty good song, eventually ending the CD with an orchestral fadeout.