Dark Forest
The Awakening
Cruz Del Sur
2014
Dark Forest are a British band with three EPs and including this three full releases to their name. They have been going on for some time now and are very happy to dwell in a style that owes a lot to the 80s classic metal, but also to the 70 hard rock as well as they too often, actually all of the time seem to break into very melodious twin guitar harmonies, that seemingly go on and on and on.
They have a slightly epic and Celtic touch, but those elements are not too prevalent, I suppose they just come as part of the influences, while they also seem to also allow some more modern influences to also creep in, but they are so masqueraded and filtered into their “80s” sound, that it’s impossible to tell them apart, it’s actually some “Swedish” leads, that are played with such an 80s air, that you wouldn’t really be able to “tell”… in reality, they also brought to my mind also some early 90s power metal bands that would try to incorporate folk elements or even in small part them bards, in their transition dates with their more “adventurous” ideas, that they would sometime try to put into work. Obviously they did manage to make them work... not too sure, if Dark Forest have the same ambition, anyway...
While I’m not ill-disposed towards, the band’s music which is quite pleasant to my ears and even the singer ain’t bad at all, when he tries to hit notes that are at the tether of his range or marginally out of it, the result is a little hit and miss as well... in those cases, I do prefer it when people stay within their comfort zone, because when they try to chart unknown territory the results are not usually that astounding...
The band makes a big deal about tuning 4 Hz differently relative to what normal tuning is supposed to be... (I will just paste this). The album is recorded in 444hz instead of the standardized 440hz tuning. The decision was based by studying the lost “Solfeggio frequencies”, original sound frequencies which were apparently used in Ancient Gregorian Chants and were believed to impart “spiritual blessings when sung in harmony” and also by studying the nefarious origins of 440hz. Tuning to 444hz corresponds to a “C” of 528hz on the Solfeggio Frequency Scale, the exact frequency used by genetic biochemists to repair broken DNA. This frequency is also believed to encourage “Transformation and Miracles”. To be quite honest, I couldn’t tell any significance difference and I didn’t feel any more nefarious while or after listening the album, nor did I do anything too wicked... well maybe I ate a souvlaki, very late but how wicked is that!
“The Awakening” is a mid-tempo opener that’s pretty epic and establishes the tone and atmosphere for most of the rest of the album. It’s probably representative of the style of the band and one of the better songs on offer here.
“Sacred Signs” is a more energetic tune, that could have been pretty cool, but the higher notes that are supposed to be reached on the song – are a bit “out off reach” forcing Josh Winnard in a very thin falsetto, that probably is not even pitch correct...
“Penda’s Fen” is another decent tune, with nice melodies, that’s pleagued by the pitch of the vocals being rather annoying...
Thankfully “Turning of The Tides” is more in tune with the epic riff that drives it and it’s glorious slightly Maidenesque melody (don’t expect to hear something too reminiscent to Maiden however) Winnard again, goes into falsetto, but this time the results are not too bad...
“Rise Like Lions” is an fast stomping number with a driving melody and epic guitar leads and an equally epic chorus with Winnard carefully refraining from “funking the song up”... probably one of the better numbers after the title track...
“Immortal Remains” is another good track with very epic leads and Josh probably singing to the best of his ability in a mixed voice, without sounding bad, which is probably the best he can do, without going overboard and sounding too thin… another good one.
And JW even pushes himself a bit further, in the same direction in “Secret Commonwealth” another epic medium/faster paced number, with real nice guitar-work that is also quite pleasant to listen to…
Apparently the some of the first few songs of the album must have been written by “Dr Jeckyl”… and maybe the second part of the album must have been written by the “Mr Hyde” version of the band… because, or at least the singer, must have been going through phases, cause the decision to put in far more consistent, less, “screechy/squeakily” performances on the latter songs is somewhat hard to explain…?
“The Last Season” is likewise not too bad, although the ghost, of the “threshold” performances makes a bit of a background appearance… but doesn’t really stick around.
Finally, “Sons of England” sees the return of that auld Phantom, with the vocal performance being very inconsistent, on this otherwise, quite decent and epic song, which closes with 2 minutes of plucking away and then church-bells and birds twittering away in some dark forest…
Well, it goes without saying that Dark Forest are a talented and honest bunch that love what they do, but that alone, cannot simply get them a “get to the top” card, like you know the monopoly “get out of jail” or “pass from the start, collect $200” cards... they do have some things they need to work on, like those moments when their singer tends to go overboard, but when he keeps within his “confident” range, that is a non-issue.
They also have mostly good ideas, although, they could possibly try and elaborate further on them to avoid repeating the same mannerisms and melodies over and over and painting themselves in a corner... other than that, they’re not terribly bad and compared with a lot of other bands in the genre of “new traditional metal” (oh dear yeah – make a couple of labels and a couple of promoters rich please) that are downright “terrible” or outright boring as funk and can’t write a song to save their lives, but just copy some already famous bands to the T, to do albums, these Brits, are much better.
They have a slightly epic and Celtic touch, but those elements are not too prevalent, I suppose they just come as part of the influences, while they also seem to also allow some more modern influences to also creep in, but they are so masqueraded and filtered into their “80s” sound, that it’s impossible to tell them apart, it’s actually some “Swedish” leads, that are played with such an 80s air, that you wouldn’t really be able to “tell”… in reality, they also brought to my mind also some early 90s power metal bands that would try to incorporate folk elements or even in small part them bards, in their transition dates with their more “adventurous” ideas, that they would sometime try to put into work. Obviously they did manage to make them work... not too sure, if Dark Forest have the same ambition, anyway...
While I’m not ill-disposed towards, the band’s music which is quite pleasant to my ears and even the singer ain’t bad at all, when he tries to hit notes that are at the tether of his range or marginally out of it, the result is a little hit and miss as well... in those cases, I do prefer it when people stay within their comfort zone, because when they try to chart unknown territory the results are not usually that astounding...
The band makes a big deal about tuning 4 Hz differently relative to what normal tuning is supposed to be... (I will just paste this). The album is recorded in 444hz instead of the standardized 440hz tuning. The decision was based by studying the lost “Solfeggio frequencies”, original sound frequencies which were apparently used in Ancient Gregorian Chants and were believed to impart “spiritual blessings when sung in harmony” and also by studying the nefarious origins of 440hz. Tuning to 444hz corresponds to a “C” of 528hz on the Solfeggio Frequency Scale, the exact frequency used by genetic biochemists to repair broken DNA. This frequency is also believed to encourage “Transformation and Miracles”. To be quite honest, I couldn’t tell any significance difference and I didn’t feel any more nefarious while or after listening the album, nor did I do anything too wicked... well maybe I ate a souvlaki, very late but how wicked is that!
“The Awakening” is a mid-tempo opener that’s pretty epic and establishes the tone and atmosphere for most of the rest of the album. It’s probably representative of the style of the band and one of the better songs on offer here.
“Sacred Signs” is a more energetic tune, that could have been pretty cool, but the higher notes that are supposed to be reached on the song – are a bit “out off reach” forcing Josh Winnard in a very thin falsetto, that probably is not even pitch correct...
“Penda’s Fen” is another decent tune, with nice melodies, that’s pleagued by the pitch of the vocals being rather annoying...
Thankfully “Turning of The Tides” is more in tune with the epic riff that drives it and it’s glorious slightly Maidenesque melody (don’t expect to hear something too reminiscent to Maiden however) Winnard again, goes into falsetto, but this time the results are not too bad...
“Rise Like Lions” is an fast stomping number with a driving melody and epic guitar leads and an equally epic chorus with Winnard carefully refraining from “funking the song up”... probably one of the better numbers after the title track...
“Immortal Remains” is another good track with very epic leads and Josh probably singing to the best of his ability in a mixed voice, without sounding bad, which is probably the best he can do, without going overboard and sounding too thin… another good one.
And JW even pushes himself a bit further, in the same direction in “Secret Commonwealth” another epic medium/faster paced number, with real nice guitar-work that is also quite pleasant to listen to…
Apparently the some of the first few songs of the album must have been written by “Dr Jeckyl”… and maybe the second part of the album must have been written by the “Mr Hyde” version of the band… because, or at least the singer, must have been going through phases, cause the decision to put in far more consistent, less, “screechy/squeakily” performances on the latter songs is somewhat hard to explain…?
“The Last Season” is likewise not too bad, although the ghost, of the “threshold” performances makes a bit of a background appearance… but doesn’t really stick around.
Finally, “Sons of England” sees the return of that auld Phantom, with the vocal performance being very inconsistent, on this otherwise, quite decent and epic song, which closes with 2 minutes of plucking away and then church-bells and birds twittering away in some dark forest…
Well, it goes without saying that Dark Forest are a talented and honest bunch that love what they do, but that alone, cannot simply get them a “get to the top” card, like you know the monopoly “get out of jail” or “pass from the start, collect $200” cards... they do have some things they need to work on, like those moments when their singer tends to go overboard, but when he keeps within his “confident” range, that is a non-issue.
They also have mostly good ideas, although, they could possibly try and elaborate further on them to avoid repeating the same mannerisms and melodies over and over and painting themselves in a corner... other than that, they’re not terribly bad and compared with a lot of other bands in the genre of “new traditional metal” (oh dear yeah – make a couple of labels and a couple of promoters rich please) that are downright “terrible” or outright boring as funk and can’t write a song to save their lives, but just copy some already famous bands to the T, to do albums, these Brits, are much better.