Forest Silence
Philosophy Of Winter

Release Date: 2007 | Tracklist

When I think of metal and Hungary together, the only thing that came to mind for the longest time was the beautiful songstress from To-Mera. Fortunately, Julie Kiss doesn’t happen to be the only notable export to emerge from this country. The Hungarians also have Sear Bliss at their disposal, a trombone toting symphonic black/death metal band that re-defines the word epic every time they push out a new album. Another extreme metal band has emerged from the shadows of Hungary with members of the former band providing their own take on the modern black metal scene. Forest Silence was composed of three former and current musicians from Sear Bliss and despite a birth date of 1996 I’ve only been able to retrieve one single release from the band. The Philosophy Of Winter is a slickly produced black metal record featuring ambient keyboards that overlap simplistic yet extremely catchy tremolo picking and raspy growling. I just want to point out that Philosophy Of Winter is one of the most accessible black metal record’s you will ever come across so those looking to venture through the genre without having to deal with all the troo, kvlt bull*** and low production values should heed my words and acquire this as soon as possible.

Black metal isn’t exactly a genre known for it’s impressive guitar displays but Forest Silence beg to differ. Generally most black metal bands play the same hollow and recycled riff patterns in the process of trying to rekindle the same fire that Darkthrone once had only to fail miserably in the process. Fortunately, Winter and Nagy had other plans for the direction of the band. The speed and complexity of the duo might not be very impressive but they more than make up for it with catchiness and variation. The riffs are traditionally much slower and chugga chugga paced then you would normally come across on a traditional black metal record but the slow tempo and prominent groove factor gives the guitars plenty of room to breathe and roam freely across the plain. The riffs are also a lot heavier and fuller sounding thanks to an incredibly warm and thick production job. Although primarily a guitar driven album, the synthesizers are prominently used to bolster Winter’s intention for creating highly atmospheric black metal. The keyboard tone recalls a natural walk through the snowy forest-esque moment, opting for a darker and more ambient approach then taking a cue out of Quorthon’s playbook. The vocalist, Winter, deliver’s a raw venomous performance that is pretty aggressive and full of bite but pretty accessible nonetheless. He doesn’t really change pitch or stray from the basic black metal basic template but he happens to be a solid harsh vocalist delivering scathing lyrical content based on nature, most notably the harshness and spirituality of a cold winter night. As for bass, Winter covers as a third musician delivering some catchy and always present bass lines accordingly well. By now you’re probably expecting the ever so aptly titled Winter to commit to the drums. Not today however. The drumming position is filled in by the session drummer/ former Sear Bliss musician, Zoltan. Nothing incredibly fast or technical, his performance is pretty textbook but sublimely effective nonetheless. There aren’t really any speedy blast beat or thundering blast beat section’s that would make Oden beg for mercy but Zoltan instead focuses on holding a sturdy rhythm section.

The album is solid musically and features boast’s considerable songwriting skill from Winter with every track managing to stand out. Unfortunately, the length of the album is brutally short. The Philosophy Of Winter builds off of five mid length tracks meeting around the 35 minute mark in total. Every time I listen to this album I feel that it end’s rather abruptly inspiring numerous replays in the process. With the main con pushed away momentarily, I must say this happens to be one of the more interesting and stand out black metal record’s to have been released in the past five years. Repetition and a lack of originality has overstayed it’s welcome and polluted the art of black metal for far too long but it makes those stand out records taste so much sweeter. The Philosophy Of Winter happens to be one of perfectly ripe strawberries picked right off the bush so people just getting into the genre or tired of what they’ve heard so far should give this a spin on my recommendation. Take it for what it is.

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3.6 great

Rank: #0 for 2007