A lot of people like to call this kind of music folk metal. I cannot remember the band that introduces this exact term, but I can surely say that BATHORY was the first to play the so-called viking metal on 1988. Many years later this genre is reaching at its highest peak with lot of bands exploring their roots. Viking or folk metal; either on extreme form or on more mild and epic form, there is a variety of groups from which you can pick out. One of them is FINSTERFORST.
Their fourth release is called “Mach Dich Frei” and I must admit I haven’t heard of them before I started the review. Those seven German guys from Schwarzwald combine both the epic and the extreme brutal elements in their music. You could compare them to MOONSORROW and FINNTROLL or even their fellow countrymen EQUILIBRIUM.
A lot of the riffing and the tempos on FINSTERFORST’s new album are exciting like war chants and marching songs. There are certain points that one could stand and march on war. And on the other hand the orchestrations on the instrumental parts are of such mysticism that make you feel like you are dwelling in their deep dark forest. And it is the perfect soundtrack to the dark soul of humanity.
The vocals are also mixing choral patterns and brutal parts. And accordion is successfully placed on the slow gloomy parts of their songs. You cannot listen to the particular instrument on the FINNTROLL’s way of use.
The duration of the compositions emphasizes the contradiction of their musical features. The songs are so long that any could find them boring at some point. The closer track “Finsterforst” is almost 24 minute long and with the instrumental “Reise Zum…” that precedes the opus reaches the length of half an hour.
If it is right on proportions or if it is too much, “Mach Dich Frei” is out there for you to decide and it wants to make you free…
[page_title text=”FEATURED SONG”]