Album Review: Forlorn – Aether (Church Road Records)

On their debut album, ‘Aether’, the innovate ‘folk horror’ band, Forlorn pay their respects to the major elements, acting as part of a progressing metal pagan ritual. Listeners can witness, and be part of the experience, on March 28th, 2025, via Church Road Records.

Forlorn realised, Aether is the culmination of a journey, but the start of another. Forlorn’s unique identity has finally come to fruition, and with this debut album, they express who and what they are with mighty aplomb. While they can be summed up to some degree as a ‘folk horror’ metal band, the Aether experience showcases so much more. Not only is it a record with depth, dramatic depth, but it’s experimental and that is what gives this album its longevity.

Laying the atmosphere on thickly, there’s a dark and elemental feel to the theatrical introduction that is Mother of Moon. That it culminates in an outburst of noise is quite something, and it does leave you with a foreboding sense of horror.

Get used to that feeling, even though elements of Forlorn’s sound has the power to comfort too. Aspects that often come through via Megan’s vocals and some of the starrier melodies. Creatress is a great example of this duality. Oozing intense and dramatic atmosphere, featuring a bevy of cold and blackened heaviness, but perfectly balanced by haunting melody and experimental elements that add vibrancy and warmth to things. That this immense track just so happens to have a chorus that is anthemic, in a way, just makes it even more special.

It’s the Forlorn way, keeping the listener enamoured through a hypnotic showcase of inventive, exciting, and progressively accessible music. The latter might seem a contradiction, but hear The Wailing and you’ll get it. This is a challenging track, with a varied structure that can be dreamy at one stage, then chaotic at another, yet it captures the imagination, borrows from various genres beyond the metal world, and delivers a level of addiction that isn’t often experienced.

A major part of that addiction is the ritualistic vein that runs through the album, and how quickly immersion sets in. Forlorn are beckoning you to join them around the Funeral Pyre, and it’s a pull that is impossible to deny. First though, a bridging piece called Matrum Noctem delivers a massive amount of discomfort.

Then it’s time for the aforementioned fiery and ferocious track, one of the strongest efforts of all, and a testament to the combined powers of Forlorn. Hauntingly heavy in places, and robustly melodic in others, Forlorn create a dreamy soundscape that feels grander than anything they’ve done before. That is also sounds so refined and comes with so much blackened intensity, is even more special. This is heavy, and no amount of mournful vocals and harmonised instruments can hide that, but it is beautiful too.

A startling listening experience, but words that are shared by the following Keeper of the Well, an equally powerful track. It’s an ethereal effort, one that is melodically charged and dripping in Forlorn’s inimitable dark and devilish heavy style. There are layers of gloom throughout, and the track ripples with emotion, thanks to the impressive vocals (especially the choir at the end).

It lingers long after the final notes have dissipated, but there’s no time to dwell on it just yet as Veiled One, the short penultimate connective track comes with dark cinematic tension that is easy to sink into. Then, finally, it’s the staggeringly good Spirit, that delivers an extravaganza of melody, moving vocals that have vulnerability to them, horror-laden ambience, and explosive heaviness that feels downright threatening at times.

It’s a spectacular ending, but of course it is, it is coming from the minds, hearts, and souls of Forlorn. Debuts do not get much better than this. Forlorn realised.

Forlorn – Aether Track Listing:

1. Mother Of Moon
2. Creatress
3. The Wailing
4. Matrum Noctem
5. Funeral Pyre
6. Keeper of the Well
7. Veiled One
8. Spirit

Links

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