Finsterforst is back.
Three years have passed since their last EP, but Simon Schillinger (guitar/backing vocals), Sebastian Scherrer (keyboards), Tobias Weinreich (bass), Johannes Joseph (accordion), David Schuldis (guitar/bagpipes), Cornelius Heck (drums), and Oliver Berlin (vocals) are now ready for their sixth album, Still.
The album opens with Obduktion’s melancholic tone, first track which takes on an entirely new dimension when the vocals kick in, starting off rather distant before the rhythm section ignites, delivering heavy yet haunting sounds, followed by the vocalist’s striking screams. The vocal arrangements are perfectly executed, particularly the numerous backing vocals, but the surprise also comes from the accordion, which adds a joyful touch to an otherwise rather heavy flow; however, the riffs pick up slightly with Herbstwanderung, a more energetic yet equally unifying track that creates a stark contrast between its softest and most aggressive passages. The track will have no trouble getting fists raised in an attentive mosh pit, just like Knie nieder, which follows the same formula and naturally alternates between the two extremes to captivate the listener, while letting the bass/drums duo support the vocals before the rhythm section returns. Next up is Im Wind, a composition just over ten minutes long that features those imposing, multi-voiced passages while using jagged riffs to hold our attention throughout its shifts, particularly during the long Folk-tinged acoustic break in the middle before the song picks up again. The raw energy remains intact, but the finale gives us a chance to catch our breath before moving on to Stille Nacht, which remains very heavy, even during the magnificent moments when clean vocals dominate, regaining all its intensity when the epic orchestrations kick in, whereas tranquility clearly takes the lead on Feels, a soothing acoustic track that’s no less captivating. The band continues with Leere, a track lasting over twenty-four minutes that begins with a massive sound, continuing with the addition of ferocious roars, then leads and backing vocals, as well as striking pauses and accelerations, along with small touches here and there from the band’s entire musical universe, making this very long track a sort of grand finale for the album.
The musicians, however, have no intention of leaving us hanging like that, covering Immortal’s Beyond the North Waves which moves away from pure Black Metal to offer an equally epic though slower vibe, and then Pink Floyd’s iconic Another Brick in the Wall Pt. II, which pushes the musicians out of their comfort zone while surprising us with the way they adapt the progressive elements of the original track to their ethereal sound, thus bringing this new album to a close.
In my opinion, Finsterforst has always been a band with multiple influences, ones far too broad to be confined to a single style, and Still is further proof of my point: blending Black Metal, Viking/Pagan Metal, and ethereal tones, the band is in excellent form.
90/100