After solid debut
Image Of Purity in 1991, Cromok seemed very enthusiastic to work on their second release material,
Forever In Time. Although Malaysian underground scenes have not welcomed
Image Of Purity with a warmly-hearted due to its incorporation with a few Malay-folk elements, nonetheless Cromok has gotten larger attention from many Malaysian mainstream medias, or even wider-from the neighboring countries such as Singapore, Indonesia, and Thailand.
Forever In Time basically is more polished than debut album both quality production and song composition. Unlike debut, the second one did not manage to incorporate any Malay-folk elements. However still, it is not too far away from their debut album style. It is as similar as the first one; the more melodic guitar solos approach rather than the more aggressive side of thrash. Of course, there are two or three songs where Cromok also managed the album more aggressive. For example
Obsessed. Although it began with some twisted riffs and solos, but the song as whole contained many tasteful riffs yet energetic! So there
Obsessed sounds like, the listener will feel the same experience with another song such as
Seedlings.
Within eight tracks and 40s-minutes of music, Cromok also managed to put into the album two instrumental songs;
I Don't Belong Here and
Another You. Any thrash metal fan who loves the speed and the more aggressive side of thrash might dislike them, despite both songs are pretty well-arranged. In first minute passage of
I Don't Belong Here, there are some synth-piano sound addition, however, clean electric guitar solos still dominated the space. Then
Another You, it's slightly contradictory to
I Don't Belong Here. In this song, acoustic guitar got a larger portion, whereas the electric one only filled a few short passage of it. Yeah, aside from not being so thrashy, this acoustic play is so damn beautiful! Overall,
Forever In Time is fairly varied in songwriting composition. Not only provided strong and intense songwriting composition but also some "easy chant along" parts.
Misery is the best example, where the listener soon will recognize it as good headbanging thrash metal song. Then regarding the actual performer, they are all good capable musicians. Vocally, Cromok didn't offer something so special, less powerful, nonetheless with clear signature! Ranging from mid-pitched to low delivery, and sometimes with heavier impeded scream, the vocalist adequately fitted to the music. The duo guitarist, Karl and Din, their primary job is to provide many tasteful riffs, and yes, plenty twisted solos. They alternately shred and shred again. Then bass delivery, it's pretty decent, although it's not bad at all! Lastly the drums, Miji's drumming is fairly good, despite he seemed remain inconsistent. In some parts he is at his best, but sometimes his drumming is pretty standard!
So, the crucial thing about
Forever In Time is, all instrument quite balanced to each other-just like their debut release,
Image Of Purity. There's no any major weakness found, perhaps the only real b
itch of the album is the two instrumental tracks,
I Don't Belong Here and
Another You. Just to be honest, these two songs are a bit "zzzhhzz" type. Oh well, whatever, the most important thing is; this album is pretty damn great thrash stuff!
***
Cromok's
Forever In Time line up:
+ Guitars ~ Karl and Din
+ Vocals ~ Sam and Din
+ Bass ~ Sam
+ Drums ~ Miji
