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Reviews
Carpathian Forest: Defending the throne of evil
09/01/08 || Global Domination
This review was written by ex-staffer/cocksmoker Desolator.
Carpathian Forest are damn fun to listen to. “But,” you may ask, “shouldn’t that crap be left out of black metal? Shouldn’t black metal be all about misery and hatred?” Firstly, it wouldn’t kill a black metal band to be enjoyable to listen to. And just because Carpathian Forest make black metal fun, doesn’t mean they make happy music. Ooooohhh fucken hell no! If this music makes you want to go outside and smell the roses and sunshine, then something’s wrong with you. This music still has the potential to make you kill yourself. Carpathian Forest is all about morbid entertainment, negativity and misanthropy.
My first night out with this band was “Strange Old Brew”, which was a very entertaining album to listen to. I wasn’t sure whether or not the other releases were up to par with it, but I eventually checked them out anyway. I think “Strange Old Brew” is the best, but everything done by Nattefrost and his cohorts is excellent. Well, the Nattefrost solo project has nothing on Carpathian Forest, but it has its moments. But that’s a story for another time.
“It’s Darker Than You Think” starts off with a decent intro and bombards you with excellent and groovy riffs. This is one of the “fun” parts, and probably the most positive song on the album. BUT! The song is by no means positive. It just happens to be a groovy rocker of a track that boasts some of my favourite riffs ever. And don’t worry, it’ll still remind you that your life is nothing more than a heap of dog poo.
“Skjend Hans Lik” is both groovy and depressive. There’s a solitary strange keyboard-driven part of the track that is just the epitome of sorrow. It’s the sound of one’s life spinning around, and going down the drain. “Put To Sleep Like A Sick Animal” sounds like something Emperor could have composed in their “Anthems To The Welkin At Dusk” days, but without the black and roll aspect. These are just some of the songs that effectively combine depressive elements with black and roll. “Hymne to Døden” and “Christian Incoherent Drivel” are some of the most forbidding sounding songs I’ve ever heard.
If you’re looking for something slow, then “The Well Of All Tears” is a slow and depressing number. The title couldn’t be more accurate and I’m sure it has generated tears from places other than the eyes, if you get my drift. If you are looking for something to cheer you up, this song ain’t it, buddy.
Carpathian Forest also has some non-metal aspects, such as “The Old House On The Hill” and “Cold Murderous Music”. “The Old House” is a very killer piano and synth driven track accompanied with a strangely rendered version of Nattefrost’s chants. According to an interview with the Natte, one of his former landlords was a strange pedophile and that somehow inspired the song. “Cold Murderous Music” is a blackened jazz number (I wonder why we call songs numbers?), which includes a saxophone! And it’s all about suicide, as evident with the lyrics:
Why don’t you kill yourself?
Slit your wrists,
Slit the right one,
Now the left.
Very, very mean indeed.
This ain’t the best of Carpathian Forest, but it comes damn close to it in my eyes. This is one of the best black metal albums ever, combining rocking grooves with depressive symphonies. And damn it sounds very good.
8.5 forests of maniac nudists out of 10.
PS: Carpathian Forest wants you dead. Just thought I’d pass on that message.
- Information
- Released: 2003
- Label: Season Of Mist
- Website: www.tnbm.no
- Band
- Nattefrost: guitars and vocals
- Vrangsinn: bass
- Tchort: guitars
- Anders Kobro: drums
- Tracklist
- 01. It’s Darker Than You Think
- 02. Skjend Hans Lik
- 03. The Well of All Human Tears
- 04. Put to Sleep Like a Sick Animal
- 05. Hymne Til Døden (A Hymn to Death)
- 06. Ancient Spirits of the Underworld
- 07. Spill the Blood of the Lamb
- 08. One With the Earth
- 09. Christian Incoherent Drivel
- 10. The Old House on the Hill
- 11. Nekrophiliac/Anthropophagus Maniac
- 12. Cold Murderous Music