Forlet Sires - Holy
For those of you who happen to know me personally or have gone thoroughly through my reviews either in my old paper zine Sewer Zine or in BRUTALISM.com, it is already known that I have always been fond of the Swiss metal production. Swiss bands from the most well known to the most underground ones, no matter the metal genre they had chosen to serve, they have always seemed to me to have a special character put to their music. Forlet Sires is no exception.
"Holy" is their second full length album and it is released 3 years after their debut "Journey Towards Ruin". "Holy" includes 4 tracks expanded to an over 40 minutes dreamy journey to an atmospheric black/doom feast that is at least impressive in terms of songwriting, tremolo melodic guitar lines, low end growl vocals which are performed in support and with respect to the music and actually help Forlet Sires in creating and (that's the most difficult!) keeping the right atmosphere.
In its more than 12 minutes length the album opener 'Carnage And Candor' sets the dreamy mood from the first millisecond. An excellent melodic intro evolves to a distorted guitar canvas while countless melodies are laid upon it. The vocals' delay is absolutely space travelling. Progressive parts and post black overtones give way to majestic a-la Emperor black metal parts that give the song a top class status. The song features so many elements that if divided in parts it would sound like a whole album in compression. The actual feeling I got from the sounds of 'Carnage And Candor' was like boarding on a ship, travelling amidst the calm changing to stormy ocean to be washed out in an unknown shore somewhere far away, but it also left me with the feeling of absolute completeness from the journey itself.
'Where Nothing Shall Thrive' is the epitome of negativity. Thematologically it is closer to funeral doom, but the million sound layers would classify it in my mind as post black. Don't bother with the styles though because they are just titles. What matters the most is the feeling. The melodies here are impressive, they sound very well worked upon although at times the band sounds like actually jamming and they give the band a unique style. Some guitar themes sound to me as if My Dying Bride of "Symphonaire Infernus Et Spera Empyrium" era had decided to sound a bit closer to black metal. Brilliantly enough Forlet Sires mix aggressive with slower parts in their songs and this variety keeps them going really magical!
'Dead Skin' intro manifests a new reality of melody. Melodies here are sick enough to fuck your mind with their perfect harmonies and disharmonies coming from the guitar layers with a great bass performance adding more melodic lines. Some guitar sounds may not actually sound like riffs, but I honestly think that this is the distinctive thing here that allow Forlet Sires to create a whole new cosmos thus can be called avant garde/progressive. The lead guitar sounds like a sicker version of a Paradise Lost lead taken out of a "Shades Of God" session. The vocals are massive and desperate with notes that flawlessly open portals to the beyond! Guitar rolls have been perfectly mixed to increase sickness rather than just show technicality. The second lead sounds like a twisted Anathema "Crestfallen" outtake. But everything comes out with great personality here and that's what I have always loved about Swiss bands! The song ends in a sequence of a doom riff that will bury what's left of you outside the soil.
The last song of the album cynically entitled 'We Roam This World Alone' could have been recorded for all our dark moments when we feel like nothing worths trying for. All these dark periods of our life when we have gone far beyond tired to exhausted and would rather be "Down in a Hole" (as Layne Staley of Alice in Chains had written). The first minutes of the song is an improvised doom/drone/funeral theme that gives the listener unparallel feelings of inner imprisonment, severe desperation and disintegration under a candlelight shadow of hope. It is absolutely suicidal. The guitars sound like out of tone due to the low key and effects. The vocal effects used make them more evil as if coming from below the earth, chaotic, yet so familiar just like our inner demons, the fear, the shadows that were once dancing in our closet now dancing in our brains forever seeking to get out. We ourselves are left shadows of what we used to be. Totally worthless in a dying world with unfulfilled prophecies, sorrow, grievance and eternal grief! In Forlet Sires own words "Abandoned, forgotten, estranged to ourselves. The concept of existence is lost forever รณ a cluster of chances, gone wrong".
"Holy" is not the album you will spin every day. If you get its point and dive in it, it will become a lifetime companion.
If you like suicidal black metal, post black, atmospheric black, funeral doom even goth, you will have to check it out! In my opinion, all music lovers should try listen to this exceptional material! I loved it and invite you: "Come, eat the fruit!"
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"Holy" is their second full length album and it is released 3 years after their debut "Journey Towards Ruin". "Holy" includes 4 tracks expanded to an over 40 minutes dreamy journey to an atmospheric black/doom feast that is at least impressive in terms of songwriting, tremolo melodic guitar lines, low end growl vocals which are performed in support and with respect to the music and actually help Forlet Sires in creating and (that's the most difficult!) keeping the right atmosphere.
In its more than 12 minutes length the album opener 'Carnage And Candor' sets the dreamy mood from the first millisecond. An excellent melodic intro evolves to a distorted guitar canvas while countless melodies are laid upon it. The vocals' delay is absolutely space travelling. Progressive parts and post black overtones give way to majestic a-la Emperor black metal parts that give the song a top class status. The song features so many elements that if divided in parts it would sound like a whole album in compression. The actual feeling I got from the sounds of 'Carnage And Candor' was like boarding on a ship, travelling amidst the calm changing to stormy ocean to be washed out in an unknown shore somewhere far away, but it also left me with the feeling of absolute completeness from the journey itself.
'Where Nothing Shall Thrive' is the epitome of negativity. Thematologically it is closer to funeral doom, but the million sound layers would classify it in my mind as post black. Don't bother with the styles though because they are just titles. What matters the most is the feeling. The melodies here are impressive, they sound very well worked upon although at times the band sounds like actually jamming and they give the band a unique style. Some guitar themes sound to me as if My Dying Bride of "Symphonaire Infernus Et Spera Empyrium" era had decided to sound a bit closer to black metal. Brilliantly enough Forlet Sires mix aggressive with slower parts in their songs and this variety keeps them going really magical!
'Dead Skin' intro manifests a new reality of melody. Melodies here are sick enough to fuck your mind with their perfect harmonies and disharmonies coming from the guitar layers with a great bass performance adding more melodic lines. Some guitar sounds may not actually sound like riffs, but I honestly think that this is the distinctive thing here that allow Forlet Sires to create a whole new cosmos thus can be called avant garde/progressive. The lead guitar sounds like a sicker version of a Paradise Lost lead taken out of a "Shades Of God" session. The vocals are massive and desperate with notes that flawlessly open portals to the beyond! Guitar rolls have been perfectly mixed to increase sickness rather than just show technicality. The second lead sounds like a twisted Anathema "Crestfallen" outtake. But everything comes out with great personality here and that's what I have always loved about Swiss bands! The song ends in a sequence of a doom riff that will bury what's left of you outside the soil.
The last song of the album cynically entitled 'We Roam This World Alone' could have been recorded for all our dark moments when we feel like nothing worths trying for. All these dark periods of our life when we have gone far beyond tired to exhausted and would rather be "Down in a Hole" (as Layne Staley of Alice in Chains had written). The first minutes of the song is an improvised doom/drone/funeral theme that gives the listener unparallel feelings of inner imprisonment, severe desperation and disintegration under a candlelight shadow of hope. It is absolutely suicidal. The guitars sound like out of tone due to the low key and effects. The vocal effects used make them more evil as if coming from below the earth, chaotic, yet so familiar just like our inner demons, the fear, the shadows that were once dancing in our closet now dancing in our brains forever seeking to get out. We ourselves are left shadows of what we used to be. Totally worthless in a dying world with unfulfilled prophecies, sorrow, grievance and eternal grief! In Forlet Sires own words "Abandoned, forgotten, estranged to ourselves. The concept of existence is lost forever รณ a cluster of chances, gone wrong".
"Holy" is not the album you will spin every day. If you get its point and dive in it, it will become a lifetime companion.
If you like suicidal black metal, post black, atmospheric black, funeral doom even goth, you will have to check it out! In my opinion, all music lovers should try listen to this exceptional material! I loved it and invite you: "Come, eat the fruit!"
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1. Carnage And Candor
2. Where Nothing Shall Thrive
3. Dead Skin
4. We Roam This World Alone
2. Where Nothing Shall Thrive
3. Dead Skin
4. We Roam This World Alone
