Finsterforst approaches its twentieth anniversary.
Four years after their fifth album, the German band comprising Simon Schillinger (guitar/keyboards/vocals, ex-Cryptic Forest), Tobias Weinreich (bass, Therapie nach Noten, Signum: Karg), Sebastian « AlleyJazz » Scherrer (keyboards, ex-Cryptic Forest), David Schuldis (guitar/bombarde, ex-Cryptic Forest), Cornelius Heck (drums, ex-Cryptic Forest) and Oliver Berlin (vocals) announce the release of their new EP, Jenseits.
The band kicks off with Kapitel I – Freiheit, which leaves a clean voice echoing in the distance, eventually joined by backing vocals and then by a heavy rhythm that will definitively transform the composition with its motivating tones. Howls give it a more aggressive approach, while Pagan influences let the band set catchy passages, aided by keyboards and other wind instruments, before Kapitel II – Dualitaet darkens the mix, whether in terms of riffs, heavy orchestrations or raw vocal parts. The sound remains extremely effective, letting the musicians lead us through their desolate territories while offering relatively unifying moments as well as a majestic final, which leads us to Kapitel III – Reflexionen and its more mysterious approach via an airy, ambient sound. Clean vocals and folk instruments progressively appear to give a more festive tone to this relatively short moment of quietness, before the long Kapitel IV – Katharsis closes the album with a return to aggressiveness, but also to the alliance between impressive orchestrations swollen by choirs and the captivating atmosphere that the band knows how to develop. There’s a slight slowdown in the rhythm before it returns with a similar intensity, integrating its icy dissonance with riffs that intensify, then fall silent again, recalling the solitary voice of the EP’s opener, very quickly joined by a final wave of heady saturation, which gradually fades away.
We can easily forgive Finsterforst the wait. Whichever side of the band you prefer, Jenseits is as ferocious and aggressive as heady and soothing, effortlessly taking us from one world to another.
90/100