Search - Forlorn :: Ad Caelestis Res

Decent effort marred by subpar production

Jeremy Ulrey | Austin, TX | 02/15/2004

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Having worked their way up to "Opus III", Forlorn have refined their craft in the black Viking metal genre, but they yet lack that certain something necessary to place them in the upper echelon of their musical brethren. For a form of music that began with extremely raw production values as an inherent part of its charm before reaching new heights of sonic clarity, black metal is usually performed these days with a middle of the road production job: neither rough enough to sound raw and terrifying nor pristine enough to allow an exploratory ambience, bands such as Forlorn appear to be trying for Emperor's "Anthems to the Welkin..." while recording in studios more equipped to generate Darkthrone's "Transylvanian Bliss". There's nothing wrong with the songwriting, which bears a resemblance Emperor though the band would rather compare themselves with the somewhat more obscure Einherjer and Enslaved, but the cavernous acoustics Ihsahn achieved on his band's sophomore effort are poorly replicated here, with the vocals weaving in and out of hearing range and the keyboards completely obscured until the guitars stop playing. Granted, I'm not reviewing this on a reference level stereo system, but I doubt it would make that much difference. Until better recording facilities and engineers are available to the black metal underground at large, many of these bands, Forlorn included, are probably best seen live, and it's unfortunate that so few of them make it to the states, but in the meantime Forlorn shouldn't be written off totally based on their inability to attain 100% mastery of their somewhat tricky craft."