Lore of a Sleeping Forest

"Lore of a Sleeping Forest" may be Null's first full-length studio release, but this album is not the first recording by the project. Tyler Pierce is the mastermind behind this band, performing all instruments and producing his own music in his home studio which, frankly, with how well this album is produced, it sounds like he professionally produces music for a living. I have personally known Tyler for almost 9 years now, since the summer of 2011. Ever since I have known him, he has been constantly working to get a specific sound quality with Null's music that has not been fully realized, at least to my ears, until now. The work on his earlier demo from 2012 shows Null in its infancy. The music was more straight forward black metal which, unfortunately, was a bit sloppily executed. Even coming from a friend, who has always supported this project, it was very rough around the edges, and not always in a good way. I'm not going to delve too far into that recording, as this review is strictly for LOASF. And man, what an album this is!

First off, if you had originally listened to the "Av ærer og blod" demo from 7 years ago, you should completely forget what Null sounded like back then. This is not the same band in a sense. There has been so much evolution over these formative years and the music really shows. There are other bands, of course, that Null sounds similar to at times, such as Xasthur, Sterbend, ColdWorld, and a few others but this is still something with its own identity, and although it uses musical ideas that have been present elsewhere, it doesn't come off as cheaply done or derivative. Everything done here sounds refreshing. The keyboards that open the album up within "Longing for Winter" sound absolutely beautiful, as does the more intense segments such as the riffing that begins at around 5:30 in the same song. It shows that even when the album ventures off into more extreme metal territories, the music can remain as wonderous and masterful as ever, which is an important characteristic within atmospheric black metal. My favorite track on the album happens to be the title track, which is the second song on the album. Why? That amazing piece that begins at exactly 3:57 in the song. The keys and guitars play off of each other wonderfully. There is acoustic work within this song too that, to me, stands out from the others as the best on the album.

"My Cold Fate" was originally my favorite song until I really paid attention to the title track, but it's still within the album's top three for me. It contains some of the most furious black metal riffs to be heard here and it definitely helps cement the album as an atmospheric black metal release, though something Tyler has expressed interest in is breaking the genre mold and expanding the style to new horizons, which is something he promises to do on his next release. I won't spoil that for anyone, though. I definitely can't wait to see what's next! Anyway, I digress. My apologies for changing gears too quickly. "My Cold Fate" almost works in tangent with the mammoth of a song that comes before it, the nearly 11-minute "Echoes of Torment". This is the second-most longest song on the album and showcases most of the album's best qualities. The choir singing this song features is breathtaking, and the overall atmosphere follows in what can be described as a DSBM style. This song is what made me compare his work to that of Xasthur's, earlier on in this review. There is a lot of similarity to the work Malefic did on "Subliminal Genocide" and "The Funeral of Being". I haven't listened to this style of black metal in months but I immediately referred back to it when I was listening to this album all the way through for the first time. It has not left my stereo since I got it earlier this month and I have had a lot of time to let it soak in. It gets into your head and you don't even mind. While "Echoes of Torment" showcases the more depressing sound a bit more, "Autumnal Twilight" is an even longer track at nearly 16 and a half minutes in length and is another example of just how trancelike the music can be. This song has a nice guitar solo as well, which works very well and is definitely a unique aspect to be heard with this style of music. More bands should follow this formula. I can compare this to Thy Light's "In My Last Mourning..." though personally, I think Null does the inclusion of guitar solos a bit better. I wish there was more of this throughout the album but with that being said, it still makes for a solid addition nonetheless!

Something you will notice right away when you see the tracklisting on this album is simply how much music is included here. This is a double album with 14 tracks split into 7 per disc, with the first disc being the longest of the two. The first disc is about an hour and 10 minutes in length, with the shortest song being almost 7 and a half minutes and the longest being "Autumnal Twilight" at 16 and a half minutes. In contrast, the second disc has the shortest song coming in at just under 5 minutes and the longest being slightly over 7 and a half, for a total of about 40 minutes. Both of these discs could have been released separately as two independent full-lengths, but I'm glad Tyler decided to release both as one album. The first side of this album differs from the second in that I think the overall quality is better. Not that the second half is poor, because it's still very well done, but to me, I think the first hour surpasses the second 40 minutes by a hair. The length of the songs really doesn't matter, as no matter how long or short, the songs neither overstay their welcome nor are over too quickly. The lengths justifiable throughout every corner. The second disc relies more on instrumental songs whereas lyrics are included for the first 7 songs. This works out fairly well as it showcases the two different sides of Null. It's still the same coin.

Some songs on the second disc really show the black metal side of Null. Take "Forgotten Nights" for example. There is even a bit of a punk influence in some of these songs which, in standard straightforward black metal, is not uncommon. So this makes sense. There are some fun riffs and intense blast beats thrown around here and there which is pretty neat. "Forests Aflame" takes on this style as well. Make no mistake, however, as there is still plenty of atmosphere, even in these more straightforward songs. Tracks like "Etheric Nights", which again shows a heavy influence of bands like Xasthur, and "Starlore" focus mostly on the atmosphere such as with a lot of the songs on the first disc, just with a much heavier focus on instrumentals without vocals.

I realize I only slightly touched on the production so far, so I wanted to dive deeper into that subject at this point. The production here is amazing. It's almost perfect for this type of music. It is not spit-polished like a pair of black combat boots, but it is not too gritty either. There is enough distortion to add that fuzzy effect to the music, which is really important to making a good atmospheric black metal album. Nothing is too loud nor too quiet in the mix, save for maybe the bass, which is slightly too quiet throughout. It's not too quiet that it is completely hidden but I would have preferred to hear it a little bit more. I am biased towards bass though. This still does not hurt the album in any way and does not take away from its musical prowess. As for the drums, they sound great as well. They are not choppy at all, which can sometimes happen in one-man metal bands. No instrument lacks quality, which is a huge selling point here. The vocals are a bit scarce, as there aren't a lot of lyrics to begin with on the first half of the album, and the second half is instrumental. Regardless, the vocals still sound solid when they appear, both the cleaner moments and the harsh segments.

All in all, this is an absolutely amazing debut album by Null. Putting all bias aside, Tyler is a fantastic musician and I really hope to work with him on future projects. Also, if you buy the digital version of this album on Bandcamp, you get 4 bonus tracks, which is more music on top of what is already a lot of music! It includes the bonus track "Pathways", which is a song that should be appearing on the next full-length, and shows a more folk metal style with a specific segment that can certainly be described as thrash metal. I can't wait to see what Null does next, especially with Tyler wanting to branch out into many other styles of metal. Everyone needs to keep their eyes on Null and show this band your support!