A Forest of Stars

The Corpse of Rebirth

Transcendental Creations 2009

The UK has been home to some boundary pushing acts within extreme metal and that is exactly what we have with A Forest of Stars whose debut album sows threads of psychedelia and old world mysticism onto a core of torturous black metal.  Like a aged hermit rising slowly from slumber, the album's opener, God, develops slowly, gaining energy and cohesion as it progresses.  The violin that forlornly caresses the guitars within the song's structure add an almost folkish, gypsy-like quality to the music.  It's as if the song is dancing mournfully as it slowly turns its head towards the sky.  The guitars pick up substance and power until finally coalescing into virulent black metal blasts at around the 8 minute mark.  Mister Curse's vocals are an exercise in madness as they bounce between the hollowness of Aldrahn's style and pure, demented shrieks.  Meanwhile the relentless violin continues its graceful dance.  Slow, depth-dredging black metal with violin and synth flourishes eat away at all sanity on Female.  The violin still weaves a sorrowful, folkish quality as it slowly drifts along the marching guitars.  Later an explosion of blasting black metal bursts forth like the froth from the mouth of a rabid beast mirroring the unsettling throat of of Mister Curse once again.  Male begins with some sparse drums and angelic female vocals before an ominous wall of guitars rises and meets distorted, spacey vocals and then collapses back into the song's origins.  The other two tracks on the album continue to drift outwards from a core of earthy black metal utilizing violins, clear female vocals, abundant synth, tribal drums (Earth and Matter) and other forms of boundary-assaulting methods and instrumentation.  With the shortest track clocking in at nearly 10 minutes, each song is perhaps a little overly long and slow to develop.  That said however, the album has a sleepy and unhurried feel to it which lends an ethereal quality to the The Corpse of Rebirth.  This a challenging and worthwhile debut from this otherworldly and introspective UK black metal band.