SPIRIT OF THE FOREST - Kingdom of Despair
November 9, 2011, 12 years ago
(Prodisk/Profusion)
Canada's connection to Norway isn't as tenuous as you might initially believe, as both countries are harbingers of extreme conditions, metal and otherwise (namely, the weather). In that vein, Quebec's SPIRIT OF THE FOREST is seemingly well versed in Norway '91 but is also up on more than just history: this band, from its core, knows how to write a record and write it boldly, epically and coldly (as the matter at hand demands). Though Kingdom of Despair is no doubt way too long at 15 tracks, the album is a testament to black metal performed and executed in the spirit of its founders, Spirit of the Forest obviously the proprietor of records by MAYHEM and DARKTHRONE, but also very much reveling in the Venom-inspired, borderline-punk of Abbath and Demonaz in latter-day IMMORTAL, though the entirety is completed with epic lead lines worthy of sad Gothenburg like INSOMNIUM. Kingdom of Sorrow's highlights are without doubt the fantastically darkening 'Battles of the Northern Seas (Part II)' and 'Gathering', both songs summit points for the type of black metal that is obsessed with craftmanship as much as it is kult status and ultra lo-fi (and I say that as an immense fan of lo-fi king of kings, PAYSAGE D'HIVER). A look at the rest of the song-titles reveals a key theme, and let's see if you can guess what it is: 'A Strange Forest', 'An Eternal Forest', 'A Forgotten Forest', 'A Shining Forest', 'A Forest of Revelations'.
