A Forest of Stars - Opportunistic Thieves of Spring

Experimental black metal is A Forest of Stars’ M.O. on “Opportunistic Thieves of Spring.” Long compositions are wrapped around a hodgepodge of musical ideas that ranges from peaceful violin solos to mind-numbing brutality, all usually within the span of a few minutes. This premise was put to solid effects on debut album “The Corpse of Rebirth” and “Opportunistic Thieves of Spring” continues in this direction. The band’s sophomore effort is tighter and more fluid, which is surprising considering it is longer than their first record. The lines between black metal and progressive/experimental are blurred even further, signifying an unpredictable sound that can shift gears at a moment’s notice.

With the majority of the songs over the ten-minute mark, there is no rush in getting to the aggressive sections. The band seems content with sticking to calm passages for extended periods of time with little recourse. Ambience plays a role in the later tracks, which is the main offense against “Opportunistic Thieves of Spring.” While it can be used to enhance a mood or build towards a rousing finish, A Forest of Stars uses ambience to pad out the song lengths. This is most evident in “Starfire's Memory”; a wonderful song that should have ended five minutes earlier than it did. The overindulgent instrumental outro isn’t poorly performed, but seems unnecessary after the band seemed to end things on a strong note before going into the outro.

The rest of the album avoids this pratfall by switching between soft and heavy moments with relative ease. The shifts are sudden, keeping things moving at a steady clip. The momentum is always at a peak position, avoiding long stretches of tedious songwriting. Closer “Delay's Progression” is the perfect representation of this motif. An early synth piece leads into female whispers and acoustic guitars before maintaining a mid-tempo pace built upon lush violin lines and vocoder work. The blast beats and tremolo riffs don’t come in until the last third, making their appearance more effective.

Black metal is a small part of the album, as opener “Sorrow's Impetus” is the only track fully immersed in this sound. The other songs are craftier in their approach, keeping it to short bursts evenly spread out. This is a brilliant decision on the part of A Forest of Stars, as it keeps the intensity given off by the black metal onslaught from getting dull or repetitive, as can be the case with many bands in the genre. When the album picks up and things start to get crazy, a refresh feeling sweeps through.

Beneath the murkiness lies vivid beauty that peers out of the shadows at select moments to show a different side of the band. The majestic violin solo that begins “Thunder's Cannonade” is masterfully executed, while the backwoods acoustic feel of “Raven's Eye View” is highly unique. The cabaret/saloon piano on “Summertide’s Approach” is also another noteworthy oddity in an album stacked to the brim with them. The lyrics have a haunting beauty to them, with sharp imagery and poetic quips like “Soul starved bodies crushed, throats stuffed with my falling angels” and “She cleanses these gutters with her utmost purity. Onrushing dark leaves your false light lonely.”

The release of “Opportunistic Thieves of Spring” was quite low-key, a shame since this is a thrilling black metal album that deserves way more attention than it has been receiving. Some have said that A Forest of Stars is the UK’s answer to Wolves in the Throne Room, but other than both bands having lengthy epics, the two really don’t have much in common. A Forest of Stars is its own entity, one that is easily recognizable among the crop of bands in the genre. When you hear a song from A Forest of Stars, you are hearing something distinct and fresh; a twist on an ancient formula. When the dust settles at the end of 2010, “Opportunistic Thieves of Spring” could be the sleeper hit of the year.

(more here)

Great to be here again! Computer was crashed, now he is alive again and now I'll spent you a great and brand new release. Enjoy it!

A Forest of Stars - Opportunistic Thieves of Spring

(Transcendental Creations / 2010 / Psychedelic Black Metal/Experimental / VBR2 202 kbp/s)

Tracklist
01. Sorrow’s Impetus 13:02
02. Raven’s Eye View 9:24
03. Summertide’s Approach 13:29
04. Thunder’s Cannonade 8:02
05. Starfire’s Memory 11:51
06. Delay’s Progression 16:29

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A Forest of Stars - The Corpse Of Rebirth

A Forest Of Stars is not your average run-of-the-mill Black metal band. Coming from the UK, they have that typical British attitude with them of class, high-tea, bowler hats and walking-canes. Ok, that's probably stereotyping and generalizing too much, but if I'd have to give it a place in history I'd place it in the nineteenth century, in a scene similar to that described in for example "The Picture Of Dorian Gray", by Oscar Wilde. Take that and morph it into Black metal and you'll probably get A Forest Of Stars.

Mister Curse (vocals), Katheryne, Queen of the Ghosts (violin, flute and vocals), The Gentleman (synths, pianoforte and drums) and Mr T.S. Kettleburner (guitars, bass, vocals), as they call themselves, have crafted a fine piece of not-so-ordinary Black metal. "The Corpse Of Rebirth", their first full-length, is chockfull with top-notch, sophisticated music. The violin dominates the mood with its sad, weeping sound while the howling and despaired vocals give the sound an extra melancholic touch. That's not where it stops though, not at all. During the song "Female" they do not sound melancholic at all, but instead evoke a very evil and malicious atmosphere and in the song "Earth And Matter" the drums suddenly become the main focus of the sound and the mood shifts to a ritualistic and entrancing ambience. The last song, "Microcosm", is just plain beautiful. These are the strengths of this album, the experimental approach combined with great songwriting, enhanced by a good production.

As for references, it is impossible to pinpoint it down to one or two bands, as it definitely has its own sound and it wouldn't surprise me if the members rarely listen to Black metal themselves. Fans of Deinonychus, Bethlehem and the Peaceville Death/Doom trio will probably like this. As will everyone that likes his Black metal the experimentation/Avant-garde way. Do keep in mind the sound has a heavy violin-focus, if that instrument puts you off you may want to look somewhere else.

All in all "The Corpse Of Rebirth" contains five tracks which together span over an hour, a very extensive and detailed booklet (so I'm told, I only have the promo copy unfortunately), great Black metal with unique and interesting twists: sounds like one hell of a deal to me.

(Taken from here)

I remember myself sitting on the train to munich on christmas eve when I listenned to this for the first time with all my senses going just for the sound. I was so overwhelmed that I just had to text my mate who recommended me this one that he probably made my christmas go over the top. Very good record, the future sound of black metal maybe? Enjoy!

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[ Transcendental Creations / 2008 / Black Metal / VBR ]

Tracklist

01. God (16:26)

02. Female (13:56)

03. Male (13:04)

04. Earth and Matter (09:40)

05. Microcosm (10:27)

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60:03

Mediafire