For I Am – The Righteous & The Wicked

Something appears to have woken up Belgium, at least on the recording front. Following on from their fellow Belgians F.O.D. releasing their superb new album, The Once A Virgin Club, their first in four years, earlier this month, now For I Am have returned after five long years with their third full length, The Righteous And The Wicked. Not that For I Am have been idle, they’ve been active on the live front, including a triumphant appearance at the 2023 Manchester Punk Festival, and lead singer Hanne Terweduwe has guested on too many recordings to recount here, but it’s been a long wait since Late Bloomers was released in 2019.

The seeds of The Righteous And The Wicked were sown once lockdown ended, the band started making their preparations and writing new material and reunited with producer & studio engineer Tim Van Doorn at Big Dog Recordings. The album received it’s final mastering courtesy of Troy Glessner at S.P.E.C.T.R.E in 2023, and now here we are with the album fresh out of the traps. The Righteous And The Wicked kicks off in fine style with the frantic lead single, The Power Behind The Throne, that indicates that For I Am have kept true to their original mission statement, but have also added some muscle to their new album. Keeping that theme going, the appropriately titled Game On takes the pace down a notch, but keeps the slightly darker heavier tone going.

Somewhat unexpectedly Jaded brings an almost jaunty rockier element into play, along with a fist pumping chorus that is guaranteed to go down a storm. The fury, or possibly the righteous, element comes in the shape of full on short sharp punk bangers such as Riler, Jack Shit His Pants, Pity Party and especially the utterly berserk Sorry For Karen So Much. But there’s more to this album than just adrenalised speedy punk tunes, the likes of Devil Undercover, the rather wonderful My Little Princess, Bonnie, The Storytellers Tale, Shoestring Sailors and closing track, The Wicked Witch, shows they have unleashed their inner rockstar for the wicked element of the album.

Hanne Terweduwe has of course delivered another vocal performance that makes The Righteous And The Wicked worthy of your attention on it’s own, but that isn’t the whole story, there are plenty of accomplished singers who deliver forgettable albums. For I Am as a unit have delivered an album that matches the achievements of the superb Late Bloomers. It would have been much easier for For I Am to reproduce the formula on their last outing, and it wouldn’t have been a bad thing by any stretch of the imagination. However, this is an album that embraces growth and change, this is done without sacrificing what made me fall in love with them in the first place back in 2018, which to bring this review full circle was with F.O.D. in a sweaty little venue in Salford. The Righteous And The Wicked is the sound of a band that have truly found their voice, and what a voice it is.

The Righteous And The Wicked is now available via streaming platforms & Bandcamp and through SBÄM Records pretty much everywhere, Double Helix Records in the US, Belgium’s Bearded Punk Records and Pee Records down under.