FORTÉ – Stranger Than Fiction

Divebomb Records has re-released Forté’s debut album Stranger Than Fiction, first released in 1992, the year after Nirvana’s Nevermind . The false but popular narrative has Nevermind sounding the death knell of Heavy Metal, an odd claim since Nirvana’s record was ultimately outsold by the self-titled Metallica album released in the same year. Regardless, the rise of Grunge and Alternative music, coupled with certain social and economic factors intersected to make it difficult for bands like Forté to break through to a wider audience no matter how good their songs were.

And Forté’s songs are very, very good. The album launches with the headlong rush of “Coming Of The Storm”, where guitarist Jeff Scott alternately flies and shreds his way through a song displaying as much sonic variety in its three minutes and eleven seconds as do many contemporaries’ entire albums. Combining elements of Speed, Thrash, and Traditional Metal, as well as what will be termed Power Metal, Forté’s sound is not easily analogous to that of any other band, though there are flashes of bands like Agent Steel, Machinery, and Helstar.

Vocalist James Randal has a powerful clean delivery and wide range, able to hit the air-raid notes in sync with Jeff Scott’s shell bursts. Bassist Ghames “Rev” Jones has a very interesting style; check out his work on the intro to “The Inner Circle”; other songs have him alternating his swift finger plucking with some slap-bass action. His interesting fretwork blends seamlessly with drummer Greg Scott’s machine gun assaults, girding the solid foundation Scott lays down with rhythmic nuance. Sadly, Greg Scott passed away last year; the rest of the band proceeded with the re-release to honor his memory.

With the exception of “G-13 (Devoid Of Thought)”, a short instrumental, all the tracks on Stranger Than Fiction burn with rapid intensity. Original album closer “The Promise” has the band drifting into early Fates Warning/Dream Theater (bands Forté opened for in the early nineties); the re-release includes two Thrashy bonus tracks “Dementia By Design” from the Metal Massacre XI compilation, and an earlier version of “Digitator” from the Molten Metal Monsters Vol. 1 compilation.

The folks at Divebomb Records have also compiled the rest of Forté’s output of the 1990’s with their Invictus release, which includes their albums Division, Destructive, and Rise Above. Stranger Than Fiction is a critical addition to any Thrash/Speed Metal collection; Invictus can help with a full-immersion experience for listeners who missed Forté the first time around.