Заревом над прахом / Like a Blaze Above the Ashes

Russia is not exactly known for having much of a black metal scene. There are many crummy NSBM bands that exist in the scene and many people will be left scratching their head if you ask them for a decent black metal band. In fact the only other competent Russian black metal band I have heard is Blackdeath, and even they are not that special. However Forest have managed to compose some excellent black metal with this release.

This album was originally released in 1997 as a demo entitled “Zarevom Nad Prakhom.” What is interesting about this release is that it appears to be made up of two halves. The first half sounds like a cross between polish styled black metal in the vein of early/mid era Graveland and Fullmoon crossed with a slightly cold Scandinavian sound. Through this mixture Forest have managed to compose a masterpiece in the first half of this release.

The first two tracks have a very sad atmosphere to them. The listener is immediately washed over with this feeling right from the first note. The vocals are performed magnificently sounding fairly pained.

The bass and drums are fairly difficult to decipher as they are engulfed by a constant wave of static. Slow mournful riffs are played by guitar that rise above the wave of static and at times also become slightly difficult to decipher. This technique the band uses works superbly.

Now onto the second half of this release. Here the band have composed songs that are about twice as long as the first. The sound has changed dramatically here and the songs are slightly progressive but a little to slow to progress so it becomes over repetitive. The sad atmosphere is now often joined by a more upbeat sound. The joining of these two atmospheres creates a very interesting effect and works well.


There is a more ambient sound and the guitars often play out a more down tuned sound with many drawn out notes that gives it a slight doomish sound. Such is the case for about the first 6mins of “To The Fiercest Frost” where the band plays the same riff the whole time which gets boring after a while. Thank god for the change to an upbeat folk melody. The vocals are rarely used in this song but are warmly welcomed to add to the sound.

The final track opens with a more acoustic sound to the guitars and backed with some male choir vocals which sounds nice but goes on a little to long.

Overall I would say that the first two tracks are excellent with the first being one of the best tracks that I have ever had the pleasure to listen to. The second half is very good as well but at times can become repetitive which is where this album loses a couple points.