|
|
|
|
Aurora Borealis is the first full-length from Dark Forest, the solo project of Canadian David Parks, who terms his music, alternately, Epic Metal, Black/Folk, and "Vindlandic Pagan Black Metal," a phrase derived, he says, from "media sources." A solid effort all around, the album is nicely paced, and recorded and mixed well. Keyboards are a focal point in the songs, but not to the detriment of the music, as they represent Parks's area of greatest competence--not that there's anything weak about his guitar playing, and even the drum machine is fairly inoffensive. The keys are also crucial to the creation of atmosphere, for which Dark Forest has a real gift. It is, in fact, the album's greatest source of appeal, in my opinion.
Drawing inspiration from Norse mythology, Canada's own viking history (a topic Parks has indicated will be explored more directly on the follow-up) and, especially, nature, Dark Forest achieves a haunting, contemplative mood, sustained even during battle sequences (which feature sampled sounds of the clashing of steel, etc.). Lyrically, viking exploits are recounted in a commonplace manner, but in depicting the physical environment of the far north and evoking the spirit of place, Parks displays greater adeptness, and his words are complemented well by the music, again with samples (wind, forest life, and so on) playing a role. Only in "Thurisaz" is there a jarring aural/verbal combination, the lyrics's reflection on passage to the afterlife seemingly at odds with the bouncy rhythm and melody that dominate the song (rather monotonously). Being upbeat about the prospect of that "freedom eternal" is valid, but the jauntiness of the music trivializes the subject somewhat. Not helping the situation is the lack of feeling in Parks's generic black metal screech/croak, a weakness that is representative of his performance on the album as a whole. Neither that voice nor his rudimentary normal one offers much in the way of emotion, let alone nuance. Both, however, are fairly innocuous, except in the case of the simplistic clean chanting at the end of "Journey To Ever-Eternal Skies," which goes on WAY too long, after having already been used earlier in the song. (Some chanting on the album is credited to Mark Zemlak, the other guitarist in Dark Forest's live line-up, but which track or tracks he appears on are not specified.)
Fortunately, Aurora Borealis is not dependent on vocals to generate feeling, as that task is accomplished very well by the music. Atmospherics and epic qualities, effective throughout the album in this regard, make "Journey To Ever-Eternal Skies" an emotive peak, one that crests midway through the song with an exquisitely poignant, folky guitar solo simulating the sound of a recorder and building to beautiful, fluid picking. I'm hoping Dark Forest will make further use of folk elements like this, the mouth harp which appears in "Eternal Forest," and the main riff of "Under The Northern Fullmoon [sic]" in the future. Work on the follow-up to Aurora Borealis has already begun, and Dark Forest recently announced its signing to the Canadian label Bleak Art Records, who will also be re-releasing Aurora Borealis (including bonus tracks from the band's Demo 2005), this version with "real" drums provided by DF's live drummer, Griffin Kissack.
| Tracklist |
| 1. Aurora Borealis |
| 2. Wind And Waves |
| 3. Thurisaz |
| 4. Under The Northern Fullmoon |
| 5. Eternal Forest |
| 6. Northstar |
| 7. Journey To Ever-Eternal Skies |
| 8. Two Ravens Soaring |
: 55.30
| Buy other Dark Forest albums |
