Review Summary: A solid EP with plenty of unique little ideas.
Ever since the release of Thurnin’s phenomenal sophomore masterpiece in 2023, I’ve kept a close watch on Jurre Timmer – the sole mastermind behind Thurnin – and anything he’s released since then. In the two years since
Utiseta’s release, Jurre has dropped two formidable dark folk follow-ups: the first being
Fragmented, Jurre Timmer’s solo debut LP in 2024, and the second being the much-anticipated successor to
Utiseta,
Harmr – a brilliant, though slightly darker, interpretation of
Utiseta’s sound and one of the strongest releases to come from 2025. In short, we’ve had a handful of exceptional works from Jurre in the space of just a couple years, and now with the release of more music from Jurre’s I, Forlorn project he appears to be showing no signs of slowing down.
For those who haven’t listened to I, Forlorn’s 2017 debut,
My Kingdom Eclipsed, the LP is essentially atmospheric doom with plenty of melodeath metal brush strokes in there to sustain its momentum. It’s a solid effort, with atmosphere being its strongest attribute, but I’ll concede that
My Kingdom Eclipsed doesn’t hold many distinctive qualities in a scene crowded with bands doing much of the same thing. However,
Requiem definitely addresses a lot of the debut’s shortcomings and brings many interesting ideas to the table, making the prospect of a full release all the more promising. The experience garnered from Thurnin, in terms of creative experimentation and production, is light-years ahead of what
My Kingdom Eclipsed provided, and it’s evident Jurre’s dark folk peregrinations have had a profound influence on I, Forlorn’s sound here.
Requiem provides an interesting sound palette to work from: what you’re getting here are various metal hues interspersed with poignant Thurnin-esque folk passages. Once again, the atmosphere here is excellent – a perfect winter record that encapsulates this desolate, chilling mood. The raw, distorted guitars and pummelling drums juxtaposed with the benign piano and acoustic guitars create a gloomy beauty throughout. The overall style of
Requiem resides in this doom-y pocket that’s drenched in reverence for black metal. The synth used throughout really gives off early-90s-era Burzum vibes and adds to the distinctive ambience this record enjoys. Couple this with some guitar hooks and the excellent throat-shredding, raspy vocal work and this EP really shows it’s on to something.
With all that being said, there are a couple of flaws within this near 28-minute EP. The biggest issue is with track-length. “Eternal Winter” and “Pale Monolith” are a perfect synthesis of all the aforementioned positives this EP gets right, while “Hollow” and “Sleeping Giants” dichotomises and undermines what’s working well here. It’s not even that these two tracks are bad – the ideas and sections contained within them are solid enough, but with both tracks running over 7 minutes, your mind does start to wander in places. There’s a lot of ingredients being put into the soup, with the end result feeling a little scattered, unfocused and bloated at times. Still, since this was archived material written many years ago, I can’t be too critical here; after all, the purpose of this EP is to grease the engine in preparation for a new I, Forlorn LP later this year. So, with that context in mind
Requiem functions more as an appetiser, laying down the groundwork for future releases. Nevertheless, the distinct mixture of doom, black and death metal, as well as Thurnin’s MO, really makes
Requiem stand out with its own sound by the end of it – I, Forlorn just needs to carry over those strengths for the new album. Overall though, this is a worthwhile experience that has a great atmosphere and some cool ideas underneath the issues and should definitely be checked out if you like this style of music.
