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Ruined by sub-par production - 65%
A Forest's initial full-length 'The Spirit of the Forest' is a note-worthy pressing in the world of underground black metal, but is simply destroyed by one major flaw...the production is absolutely horrid...
Essentially, you're getting all of the elements that would make up a creative, crushing, black metal release that is delivered on a garage-style, demo quality platter. In terms of production, something on par with Darkthrone's "Goatlord" comes to mind, primarily a flat mid-range tone lined with snow capped peaks of high, static-like frequencies that make up an overall sound that is still distant even at high volumes. The primary instruments the listener will focus on are always going to be the drums and the vocals, due to the fact that everything else is nearly non-existent. While some guitar riffs are audible, many of them are simply static caught up in the churning tide of bombastic drumming and raw vocals. In terms of low-end support, the bass guitar simply doesn't exist here. While the bass drums serve as the primary anchor of the low end, as stated previously, it still sounds 'weak' and distant.
The two primary points of focus, being the percussion and vocals, is 'The Spirit of the North's saving grace. The drumming is reminiscent of a belt-fed weapon at times, fast and aggressive, while being heavy on fills and doing a great job of advancing the songs and keeping the interest levels high. Yet again, the production kills this by washing out the ride cymbals, flattening the bass tone, and providing a weak tin-can like sound to the crash symbols. The vocals are raw and provide a relatively sharp cutting point to this spear of an album, but just like the drums, it's in constant competition to cut through the dense smoke of production. But with the lack of any audible riffs, it's hard to have any desire to return for a second listen. This is metal, and metal without guitars is kind of self-defeating...
The actual 'meat' of "The Spirit of the North" is only twenty odd minutes of material, being that second track, 'A Walk Through Forest Unknown' and the closing piece 'Bjarka' are instrumentals. 'A Walk Through Forest Unknown' is an actual instrument driven composition in comparison to the latter track 'Bjarka' which is over eighteen minutes of subtle atmospheric synth, clean and delicate guitar, and literally, the sounds of walking through a forest: leaves crushed underfoot, the breaking of branches, the sloshing of thick mud, and the indecipherable babbling of a river. So, in reality, you're only getting five core songs, complete with lyrics and music.
Composition of the five non-instrumental songs is relatively linear and straight-forward. Fast paced black metal, veined with occasional passages of mid-tempo breaks, peppered with frantic, well executed drumming and choking vocals throughout. Yet, I can't stress enough, that this production is really quite lousy and really hurts songs that would otherwise sound great with a little polishing up on the final sound.
Overall, as a whole, I can't really give a thumbs up to something with little to no redeeming sound quality, nor can I recommend it to anyone outside of black metal fanatics who can look past the aforementioned. While being a headstrong, fast-paced black metal album, the sheer lack of audible guitar riffs and below amateur recording quality spoils the pleasure of an otherwise perfectly respectable listen.
