Album Review: Forstenet – Ephemeros: Virvar (Self Released)

Forstenet are a five-piece Danish progressive rock/metal band. Four young men and their old Norwegian father, who decided to form a rock band. A rock band that cherishes the free flow of creativity and experimentation. In other words: A rock band that plays whatever they want.

The band’s songs are written in Danish language and performed by a singer who practices everything from clean singing, throat singing and growling to high-pitched falsetto. The eclectic vocals combined with heavy progressive riffs and the Nordic atmosphere of the band’s native language contribute to a quite fresh experience of the progressive rock and metal.

Their debut ‘Ephemeros: Virvar’ is out on November 29th 2019.

The off-kilter and unusual opening guitar riffs of Ephemeros has plenty of gothic rockiness to it but it’s when the vocals arrive that things really become unseated. Unusual doesn’t quite do it justice as it switches between almost spoken-word to deep and guttural growls on a whim. It’s an attention grabbing opener.

We then get the riffy Afmagtskvad which is over before it even really gets going before Intet Bliver shows the more straight-forward rock side of the band. Don’t get me wrong, it’s still unusual as hell but it’s a lot more settled and far catchier.

The keyboard melody of Falske Vår is then a nice change of pace before the peppiness of Udryddelsesønsket delivers a storming listen. A duo that really shows just how fun and unique Forstenet can be.

Eerie wonder grows in Dissonans I to follow into the gargantuan Dissonans II, where we see Forstenet really stretch their progressive muscles. A spectacular trawl with echoing riffs, depth filled percussion and booming doom-lite heaviness. As huge as it is though, it’s not the epic of the album though. That comes next with the absurdly complex and long track, Skønhed Blandt Kolossale Masser Af Grå. At just short of 14 minutes, this is an effort to get through but one worth persevering with as it just won’t sit still. Forstenet at their brightest and most interesting.

Finally to close out one of the 2019’s most challenging listens, it’s the duo of Urskov and Virvar. The former bouncy and energetic as hell while the latter is a twisted and unsettling piece. It picks up for a bit before ending in what is effectively just noise.

Wacky but very imaginative.

Forstenet – Ephemeros: Virvar Full Track Listing:

1. Ephemeros
2. Afmagtskvad
3. Intet Bliver
4. Falske Vår
5. Udryddelsesønsket
6. Dissonans I
7. Dissonans II
8. Skønhed Blandt Kolossale Masser Af Grå
9. Urskov
10. Virvar

Links

Website | Facebook | Instagram | YouTube