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ATTACK OF THE TEN-MINUTE MONSTERS!

EMAN NEP | 03/31/2009

(3 out of 5 stars)

"When it comes to accordian-driven Metal, few do it better than Finsterforst. I was very happy to get my hands on their latest album and see how they did this time around.



A few first impressions:



First thing I noticed, there are only 5 tracks. Why's this? Because . . .

Each track is over ten minutes long!

Then when it came to listening to the songs I noticed that they all came across as more calm and folksy (as compared to their previous album).



Don't get me wrong, they still growl from time to time, drum furiously and blast on their guitars, but there were many several-minute-long chunks where the music was leaning towards the calm, folksy and atmospheric.



Now normally I'd list all the songs I liked, but with this album I can't really do that. Reason being . . . I would like a part of the song but the rest would be, not bad, but just blah.

You shouldn't have to wait 5 minutes to get to the "good parts".



One track that I really did like was number 4, "Sturmes Ernte". They have a nice riff about halfway in and some clean, almost MENHIR-like vocals to accompany it.



If they had pared down the tracks some and maybe added a track or two more, I think they would have had a winner on their hands. Several songs truly sounded like they could have ended 2-3 times instead of picking up again.



If you're new to FINSTERFORST, pass on this one and go with their previous album, if you're familiar with the band, I'd still give this one a try, just don't expect too much."