Hybernation

Forlorn continued the trend they started with their last album. They had distanced themselves from the viking influence even more to become a full blown black metal act. Symphonic black metal to be exact. The vocals are less raw and match closely to other related black metal acts. The song structure matches other black metal acts. The production matches.... Ahhh hell, I could go on forever about what is the same between this album and any other black metal album of it's kind.

Let's see what's DIFFERENT.

Not much.... So let's just go back to it.

The songs chug along slowly in the typical new style of black metal. In the background you can hear the symphonic keyboards that try to add a dark ambience to the music but falls short because it is really just filling in the empty gap that the rest of the instruments leave. Why does that happen? Because it is uninspired. At some parts the vocalist sounds like he doesn't even want to continue singing, as though he is growling away watching the clock for the time he can clock out and go home.

Trying to find something that stands out during the course of the album one part came to mind. The sudden break of silence from 3:55 to 4:50 during 'Agony Defiled'. I enjoyed that. Though I can also say the riff that ends off the song is quite enjoyable as well.

During 'Cubes' there is an interesting 'clean vocal' part that is change of pace from the droning growls but still, like the rest of the album, falls flat in the "I wanna be like everyone else" kind of way. There is also a clean tone part that breaks out right after the 'clean vocals'. This song has everything!

'Hybernation' also opens with clean tone guitaring. Showing signs that maybe the album still has some life left in it. Maybe the second half will shine and bring back some of those viking roots. Sadly, that 20 second intro is the only shining part.

The song 'Abuse' leaves you wondering exactly what the hell these guys were thinking of? A song with horrible vocals and some half-assed techno beat halfway through the album? It doesn't fit at all and is easily skippable.

I think 10% maybe even too much for this album but that break of much needed silence followed by a short cute little riff kind of sparked live into the dying album. There isn't anything here you can find somewhere else being done ten times better. Move along, move along.

Forlorn is bound to make a statement to fans of And Oceans, Dimmu Borgir, or any modern black metal act. "Hybernation" is definately a mix between And Oceans, and a strong dose of Dimmu. Production is done very well for the most part, as you can hear all of the instruments. However, there are a few problems with it. The keyboards, are very buried, however if you're not a fan of a more symphonic/atmospheric approach towards black metal, then there you go. The guitar is well done, and is not the typical sound of white noise, the tone actually has balls to it. The vocalist succeeds in sounding like a troll, congratulations. As for the content of this album, Forlorn has ditched the previous theme of Viking metal, to take on a genre of progressive black metal. All passages are well done, and fit together well. The instrument parts are well done, but I would like to be able to hear the keyboards at certain points, especially in the intro to "Agony Defiled", but the song is well done anyways. Fans of Dimmu, And Oceans, Empyrium, and Borknagar take notice.
Standout Tracks: Ether Inside, Grow City, Disintegration, Agony Defiled