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Forsth > Winterfrost > Reviews
Forsth - Winterfrost

Keyboards anyone? - 72%

Felix 1666, January 21st, 2014

I am no enemy of keyboards in black metal in general. It is always a question, how often it is used. Forsth are walking on a fine line.

The beginning of "Snowly Mountains" is an example for a succeeded application. The keyboards are supported by the snare playing a roll and together they open the song with an interesting melody, gloomy and militaristic at once. The guitar sets in and after one minute the tune explodes. The breaks do not weaken the track, because they are aligned with its flow. "Snowly Mountains" has tragic and rabid parts and I would be glad, if the whole album could reach these heights. The almost omnipresent keyboards are also characteristic during the title track. Throatier vocals and up-tempo mixed with majestic parts make "Winterfrost" to one of the best cuts on this record. Nonetheless, the guitars should have claimed more space. But no doubt, these two songs are actually strong.

The converse example is called "In the Gleam of the Burning Timberabstract" (wow!). An atmospheric break, wind, rain, thunder, a keyboard-melody starts... and kills the song immediately. All power is lost and can not be rebuild in the afterwards process, although they try it and offer a raw speed eruption before the keyboards return with dominance. Too much variety, too long (seven and a half minutes), not bad, but inconsistent.

So what about the other tracks? The intro is (of course) keyboard-dominated with wind and water samples. With its atmosphere it represents in a certain way the common black metal intro of the nineties. After the very brute transition (cliché!) we hear "Waldpfad", not too harsh, but not drowning in keyboard sounds. Unfortunately, the production lacks of a well-produced snare. I do not hear a single beat as soon as they start a rapid tempo. Maybe they forgot the snare in the forest while they were walking on the "Waldpfad"?

Generally speaking, you can file the other tracks in the same league as "Waldpfad". The last three songs do not offer a single new detail. The mix of slow and fast parts stays the same, the keyboard break is compulsory. Seems like they had no idea how to break out of their song scheme. Ironically the varied pattern of each and every track leads in the end to very similar songs. With one exception: the folkloric "Mit den Gedanken im Nordischen Altertum" presents a simple melody and female high-pitched vocals. But what was the intention? A short archaic piece would have been maybe okay, but 3,5 minutes endanger the dark mood of the album. Regretfully, this track is placed exactly in the middle of this disc.

Do Forsth interfere musically - the lyrics are black metal standard - the feeling of coldness and / or darkness like black metal should do in general and in light of the song titles especially? They do not fail, but the warm (I use the tendentially unpopular word now for the last time, I promise) keyboards are a handicap for sure.

Epic battles!! - 85%

Paganbasque, March 25th, 2013

There are cases when you don’t have to make a special effort to know what an album can offer to you and Forsth´s debut, explicitly called "Winterfrost", is a great example of this asseveration. You must simply take a look to the album cover and the song titles and you will realize what sort of sonic assault you are going to receive. Forsth’s first opus is a barbaric compilation of grim, feisty, and rude songs in the way that many other bands used to do in the mighty decade of the '90s. Do not expect elaborate songs or pretentious production, but only an epic masterpiece of raw, epic black metal as nowadays, unfortunately, can hardly be found.

"Winterfrost" is equally freak, rude, and epic, from the band's imagery to the lyrics themselves. Traditional black metal freakiness is represented without any shame; some people will hate it. I personally praise and love it, especially because this majestic album breathes this putrid fragrance of blood, death, and glory that I enjoy so much .Those characteristics are enhanced by the typically raw production with predominant fuzzy guitars that are overshadowed during many moments by the atmospheric keys that play an essential role in this album. Vocals are the anticipated abominable shrieks, obviously not the best ones I have ever listened to, but ones which suit perfectly well with the music and reinforce the sense of violence and rawness.

After the typical key intro, all the characteristic I have anticipated in the previous lines immediately appear. The song “Waldpfad” is the well-expected, straightforward tune combining crushing riffs and some keys. The tempo is quite changeful, flowing between the fast and mid-tempo sections that I personally appreciate because I find those relentlessly-fast albums quite boring.

Anyway, there are much better songs on this album like “Snowly Mountains” and “Wolfshowl In The Moonshinelight” (ahh, lovely freak titles). It is not a coincidence that the most inspired pieces are the ones which contain more relevant keys, which I must admit is the instrument that gives more points to this cd. Without it, “Winterfrost” could be quite a standard album. My favourite one is “Wolfshowl…” with this amazing intro: it is a quite simple atmospheric key, but it absolutely rules and adds a forceful sense of solemnity and darkness and is perfectly combined with the rawest parts.

As a curiosity, we find a totally different song called “Mit Den Gedanken Im Nordischen Altertum”, sung by a female singer and with a surprising happy mood. I personally like it, though I must admit that more than one fan will think that it is annoying or simply destroys the atmosphere of the album. It’s a matter of taste, of course.

In conclusion, all I can say about Forsth’s debut is that delivers exactly what it promises, perfectly-accomplished, powerful, and raw black metal generously adorned with those wonderful keys which carry you to the merciless battles of the past, nothing more and nothing less. Highly recommended for the frostbitten nights of the mighty winter.

Unintentional entertainment - 10%

Byrgan, December 24th, 2007

If you haven't crossed paths with Forsth, they are the equivalent of a mid to late nineties black metal boy band. I'm honestly saying, was there this big producer who seen the potential of making a buck and gathered a collection of eager musicians within the uprising black metal genre? This is the impression that comes across with these Swiss natives. You might ask, "What could you possibly mean by all that fiddle faddle?" Well, the overall atmosphere of this sappy bunch comes off as "cute". And I devoid myself from saying cliche, because that would be farther from the truth. The words desperate and contrived would probably ring a more stenchful air of truthfulness. It is almost as if they produced a check list of everything that has been done in the early nineties by fellow Norwegians. Overall, we could just blame Emperor and be done with it. But that would be too easy. Just imagine taking Immortal's winter themes, take the nature-like cover of Enslaved's Frost (with a side shot of a river, mountains, and clouds), combine the keyboards and squawking vocals of Emperor, and you can picture Forsth's Winterfrost—with nothing left to add to the imagination.

The music is more so carried by the keyboards. Which stylistically are played way too drawn out and almost seem there for fluff. That, or to cover up for the basic, uninteresting riffs. A typical song might contain only a handful of riffs. However, when compared to the television personality of Ben Stein's monotonous, dry voice—pales in comparison of excitement. With all seriousness, it is sometimes hard to even tell what the guitar sounds like underneath the dominating keyboard montages. However, track 3 is a more guitar focused song. It probably has the only decent riff on the whole album. It isn't hard to confuse what riff I'm referring to, because they overuse this riff like a new catchphrase from your favorite comedy movie. The riff goes on and on at faster and slower paces. Then there is a break, to only come back to a few uninteresting riffs, then that riff again. After further inspection, it is the same exact fill of the opening riff of Emperor's 'Cosmic Keys to My Creations and Time'. The guitars on the rest of the songs sound very meshed and often like a faded wall of distortion blended into the background. He throws in the occasional palm mute on a slow or mid section and as well as plays the occasional singular fast tremolo riff. The drums on the other hand are heard much better, with an even sound when going slower and show some skill, instead of snare, hi hat, and bass drum syndrome. We get a few thought through fills. However, when speeding up they raise the volume of the drummer's ride cymbal, which he frequently uses when blasting. It is so loud at points, it sounds like the drummer is continually counting off, if it weren't for a few fills in between. The first time heard it, I thought: when is the snare and bass drum going to kick in? The production on his drum set is comparative to many other lower recorded black metal albums: flat and hardly a focal point.

There have been many different bands that play a certain genre and completely miss the point and, or concept. This is what happens when a certain previous band has success, other bands take a hold of the style, and wash it so many times, the true colors of the original start to fade. Forsth's Winterfrost is neither dark, scary, atmospheric or even interesting in the least bit. With the overbearing keyboards, which play three chord, grocery store Halloween time compilation CD concepts. As well as are the dominate feature in the mix, forcing you to focus on their utter cheesiness, instead of the music as a whole. Track 5 sounds like a damn Christmas song; that is as low as it gets. It has a X-mas like tune played on the keyboards and guitars, accompanied with a female voice singing clean, and happily. From Halloween to Christmas, Forsth seem to have made the unintentional holiday bm album. From the basic, squawking Emperor like vocals to the flat drum sound, buried guitars, and overpowering keyboards, you get a description of Forsth's Winterfrost. Which you hopefully will never have to encounter in your metal listening days.