Philosophy of Winter

Forest Silence is probably one of the most well-known contemporary black metal band from Hungary. Even though they've been around since 1996, Philosophy of Winter is up to the day of this review, their only full-length release. This album came around at a time when black metal had evolved and the Norwegian second wave had slowly died out. Black metal, rather than being primarily associated with Norway, became an international phenomenon. During the late 90s until the early 2010s, it seemed that most black metal bands were either taking a more melodic and symphonic approach, or were branching into more progressive realms. In addition to these two main trends, there are another two less prevalent approaches, taking the ambient route and keeping things as raw and primitive as possible.

Forest Silence combines all these approaches together and crafts a masterpiece called "Philosophy of Winter". This album lasts around thirty-five minutes and has a total of five tracks. The artwork on this full-length is surreal and the very evocative of ancient and darker times, when man was still not yet as confident in his capabilities as he is nowadays. The artwork fits in pretty well with the music. The music on this album can be described as second-wave black metal with heavy hints of depressive black metal and ambient music due to the use of the keyboards and the general grim and bleak atmosphere the music creates. I have two main gripes with this release which I would like to get out of the way before getting deeper into the music, which are, the shortness of the overall length and the vocals. I strongly believe that this album could have lasted a bit longer and could have used a couple of more length. However, keep in mind that the closing track on this album is probably the best on this album. Now, on to the issue of the vocals. They sound extremely weird and forced. This can sometimes get into the way of the rest of the music which is simply spectacular.

Each of the five tracks goes on long enough to develop and tell its own tale. In my opinion, the second track entitled "Spirits of the Wind" and the closing song "Philosophy of Winter" are the main pillars of these release. The former has a very intense pace and is very evocative of early Graveland and "Filosofem"-era Burzum. The closing track is simply monmental, it has some pretty cool moments where the keyboards take over the wheels and guide the song into the darkness of winter. The guitar has a very thin and ghostly tone which penetrates the wall of noise perpetrated by the drums in the background. In terms of originality, Forest Silence do not really think too much outside the box and keep things basic and true to the old spirit of black metal.

To conclude, I would strongly recommend anyone who likes atmospheric and ambient black metal to check this band and particularly, this release out, because it will surely leave you yearning for more material. Forest Silence manage to combine simplicity and creativity together so well that they deserve nothing but praise.

"Philosophy of Winter" ... an apt title for the debut album by Hungarian atmospheric BM band Forest Silence whose work revolves around investigating the idea of winter and all its associated meanings and concepts of darkness, finality and what lies beyond. Surprisingly perhaps the album itself turns out to be a strongly melodic work with clear-cut songs, a few of which could be potential singles with some commercial appeal. The band's sound has that necessary cold wintry touch, courtesy of background space-ambient keyboard wash and melody which helps give the album a slightly raised 3D feel. Bass and drums concentrate on kicking out a solid rhythm foundation for the guitar riffs and various effects. The gravel-voiced singing isn't much out of the ordinary but does its job churning out the lyrics.

While the playing is top-notch, the arrangements are just right and inject drama when it's expected, and the production is crisp and sparkly, at the same time I find the album tends to be a bit laid-back as if the musicians are happy to coast along at a mid-paced level and no more, as long as the cheque is there at the end to be picked up. Long songs tend to be quite repetitive at times and the energy levels seem quite low. There is not that much aggression in most songs: whatever level of anger a song starts out with, tends to stay the same throughout with no peaks or troughs. There are no moments where solo lead guitar might be allowed to zing off into the farthest reaches of dark space, squealing and firing off lightning flares, and maybe discovering a major spiritual revelation that illuminates the music. The cold space atmosphere rarely changes - there is not even a light snowfall or breath of chill wind from the north latitudes.

As the album continues, the songs do start to sound much alike and listeners' attention can start to flag especially as the danger zone known as just past the half-way mark towards the two-thirds point looms with the music not deviating from its chosen model of songs having several riffs that repeat over and over while the vocalist half-chants / half-declaims the lyrics and the bass and percussion section concentrates on setting the pace and providing bulk. At this point, one wishes for something completely unexpected, like a short all-instrumental, all-ambient piece of solemn introspective mood or black quiet, but even this is unavailable.

The best track on the album is the title piece that comes at the end, mainly for a passage of synth-wash moodiness that gives the song a bluesy-sounding meditative edge.

I had expected something more structured and melodic, and perhaps less free-flowing than the earlier, more atmospheric demos, but this first album turns out to be an ordinary plodding effort for Forest Silence.

You know, it always kind of irks me when I see people whining about their pet band taking too long to release an album. Music doesn't abide by your schedule, goddammit! Sure, one can argue bands can coast on their reputation and lose any sense of motivation to be creative, but music can take either hours or years to compose, and it doesn't seem fair to expect some sort of regular productivity.

That being said, WHEN THE FUCK IS WINTER GOING TO RELEASE A FOLLOWUP TO THIS MASTERPIECE?

Philosophy of Winter has both the qualities of being seriously infectious, stylistically progressive, and above all, cosmic as fuck. People tend to apply words like "cosmic" to bands which have no business being described as such, but I really do mean it when I say it here. I happen to have a particular fondness for albums that take inspiration from the interstellar wonders of space. From Vektor to Slough Feg to Trou Noir, the cosmos are one of the greatest, darkest and most tangible sources of inspiration for music there is, and rarely does it feel more at home than in metal. Black metal in particular is inherently the best at capturing the sense of how huge yet full of nothing space is, with the same sort of endless, suffocating terror lined with the majestic beauty of the stars in the minimal repetition, powerful melody and bleak atmosphere that makes it black metal. Darkspace is a popular example of this, but if you ask me, the absolute peak of this little stylistic offshoot of black metal is this album, right here. Philosophy of Winter is the absolute definition of an isolated, buried gem; although this was released on Candlelight, it didn't seem to get a whole lot of attention short of perhaps a few strong supporters here and there. Add that this is sort of a side project of the once-keyboardist of Sear Bliss, who are already a third-string Hungarian black metal band (though actually really good as well), and the fact that Forest Silence hasn't really put out anything more than an EP since and this seems doomed to fade into relative obscurity. That's a shame, because after a long period of digesting this album, I have no qualms with calling it a 21st-century black metal classic.

Right off the bat, the first thing you're going to notice is the vast, powerful riffing. Mostly comprised of long sustained chords and tremolos, the clean, crisp production allows each hammered chord to blast into the music with the most impact it can possibly have. Though this is artistically a one-man project, session members were recruited for additional guitars and drums, and that helps give the album a much more rich, full sound, a welcome change from the hale, treble-heavy production common these days in this style. It's in line with most 21st century Burzumic black metal in that it focuses on atmosphere through passionate, somewhat warm melody with a focus on riff sildeshows (although occasionally there are riffs that re-emerge throughout a given song), steadily repeating to let them settle in. Unlike most Burzumic black metal, however, this is by no means an album sparse in content; clocking in at 35 minutes, it manages to encompass a fuller range than most bands can manage with an hour's worth of material. Forest Silence change up the riffs at a constant rate much more frequent than most bands in this vein, never straying very far from the core texture and atmosphere of the album but always keeping it fresh and interesting. I tend to have a very strong fondness for Eastern European black metal because it's so inherently passionate and focuses on slowly refining and sculpting traditional ideas over giving things constant makeovers, and Philosophy of Winter shows how this approach works when done right. The music is wonderfully original despite adhering to stylistic bases, songwriting structures and creative approaches already fairly common in black metal, standing on its own due to the innate understanding of the elements at play and the marvelous execution of them. Above all, the main thing I look for in my music is memorable riffs, and each of the five songs on this album have sections that get stuck in my head constantly.

Though Winter was only the keyboardist for Sear Bliss for a few years in the mid 90s, he managed to stand out and impress me enough on the albums he did play on for that band. His keyboard style is very tastefully restrained, gorgeous yet eerily haunting, and the flashes of brilliance he showed with Sear Bliss have blossomed into a full core feature on this album. It's one of the best keyboard performances I've ever heard in black metal; only something like Witchcraft tops the inviting yet bleak twilight of the keyboards on Philosophy of Winter. Although they're the focal point much less frequently than the guitars are, their presence is constant and gives the riffs a bigger body and colors them in a little more. When they do take center stage, they always provide a melody as equally addictive as the riffs that preceded it were. Yeah, did I mention how ridiculously infectious this album is? It manages to carefully straddle riff-heavy mainstream black metal and more atmospheric, focused stuff and comes out with collections of riffs that are simultaneously easy to headbang to and majestically captivating in their own cosmic way, similar in approach to many of their contemporaries but emerging with one of the few really successful results.

Black metal vocals tend to be a tricky beast--there's a fine line between sounding like some deranged demon and a croaking nerd in a Nokturnal Mortum shirt. There's an inherent silliness present in some of the ways vocalists can style their rasps, and not everybody has the same charisma that, say, Dagon has. Winter's gurgling, gravelly rasps and screeches manage to be right on the verge of being downright silly, but they're never quite active or sustained enough in the music to ever cross into "cheesy and dumb" territory. That's really what makes this album so good- it toes the lines between cheese and seriousness, pretentiousness and grandeur, the majestic and the mundane and the songs are long but it feels all too short, especially because there's not much else to inspect in this band, this being the only full-length they've put out to date. This is one of the best black metal albums outside of the second wave, and considering the release date, quite ahead of its time in terms of where the genre was headed. This is all the things black metal can and should be in our present day.

Hailing from Hungary, Forest Silence is like a gem of black metal hidden somewhere beneath the snow in eternally dark and frost bitten forest. With Philosophy of Winter, Winter has given us another black metal masterpiece along with his previous work with Sear Bliss. This album is a must have for all fans of atmospheric music and black metal, for it's not just another run of the mill generic black metal album with chaotic drumming and satanic imagery. This is all about atmosphere and Winter does a terrific job in creating the ultimate sound-scape that will transport you to a bitter frost-bitten dimension.

Everything from the vocals to the guitars are on the spot. I haven't heard more efficient use of ambient elements in any other black metal release. It's a perfect album that can change the mind of anyone who thinks black metal can't be creative or beautiful. Every single song in this album is a stand alone masterpiece and originality of this band is evident in every riff. You can never get bored of this album. Although every song is almost 7 min, it will leave you begging for more at the end. I cannot say any bad things about this album except that it is kinda short. If you're a sucker for anything atmospheric and dark like me, then get this album ASAP because, trust me, there are not many albums like this.

Parts of Central Europe are completely foreign to me in more ways than one, including its vast and varied metal underground scenes. Though I do spend a fair amount of time scouring for talent in Germany, as I find that to be one of the best places to uncover gems, I find myself unable to garner much of an opinion on areas like the Czech Republic, or Poland, two countries with strong connections to the metal movement. Although I have dealt with bands from Hungary before, specifically Marblebog, I don’t know all that much about what the region has to offer the die-hard fan of the genre. There is only one way to rectify this situation and that is to search long and hard for the best of the best and thus far, on my short journey, I have come across bands like Sear Bliss and Forest Silence, the band we’re dealing with here, who also happen to be a side-project of Winter’s, the keyboardist of Sear Bliss. I’ve actually known about Forest Silence for some time but, for some reason, I had always assumed they were bound to be from an area of the world where black metal has recently fluctuated and spread its divine wings like Canada, or some other nation in the west of Europe.

‘Philosophy of Winter’ is highly regarded amongst black metal fans, as far as I can tell, but I myself have never really stuck by it. I occasionally whip it out, dust it off and give it a spin, but I’m usually far too transfixed on other bands, despite the fact that this Hungarian act are clearly one to be treasured and recommended to those less familiar with the scene. Unlike a lot of people, I don’t recognise Forest Silence as being an innovative leader within today’s scene. There are some obvious influences here that attract my attention on several occasions throughout the duration of the record. Varg’s ambient work with Burzum has clearly been an inspiration to Winter’s creative output. A lot of the light keyboard work reminds me of Burzum’s ability to entwine harsh, dissonant black metal styling with airy keyboards that definitely enhance the atmospherical presence of the record in general. The keyboards are a constant source of inspiration throughout, though this is hardly surprising considering the fact that Winter is primarily a keyboardist for Sear Bliss. His keyboards, as well as bass driven sections, are the light snow falling on a dark night, whilst the guitars and standard, strong vocals are the harsh, cold grounds these flakes fall on.

Having not had too much time to familiarise myself with the numerous records of Sear Bliss, I cannot judge whether their music has had a profound influence of this side-project, though I assume there must be some influence as they’re Winter’s main band and he has had some help in achieving this piece of work by asking two of his fellow musicians to provide both session guitars and drums for the ‘Philosophy of Winter’. Looking back on Winter’s career, it is evident that he has had some experience with one-man bands, having been in one, or two previous to this. I would imagine his experience at handling projects solely by himself has served him well here as he’s able to wonderfully harness his creative abilities, particularly on bass and keyboards, and put them to the good use. With that in mind, it is easy to see the two main forces behind the music here and although I appreciate the quality that the slow to mid paced guitars bring to this delightful little package, I tend to recognise the bass and keyboards as stand out aspects. Thankfully, ‘Philosophy of Winter’ doesn’t stick too close to traditions by allowing the guitars to take precedence when the bass and keyboards are far more equipped at dealing with the frequent light textures that the record provides the listener.

The bass doesn’t feature too much early on, but gradually grows in superiority as the music progresses towards its ambient destination. The keyboards compliment this section well like a sweet smelling fragrance does to a beautiful woman. I suppose I should mention the production in context to these aspects, too, as it does a terrific job of maintaining a superb balance between the light and dark references the instrumentation draws out. The light aspects are obviously the most spectacular because they give the record a feeling of originality, whilst the dark, forceful guitars and vocals supply us with a nostalgic feeling. Two songs instantly pop to mind when thinking of how well Winter does at song writing and accommodating a position for both elements simultaneously; those two songs are ‘Spirits of the Wind’, which starts with a delightful bass driven lead and ‘Path of Destruction’, which consists of a light ambient background and a hard-hitting black metal foreground. Songs like this set up the record as being one of a thoughtful nature and very well performed. A great start to a hopefully stellar career.

Winter was the keyboardist of Sear Bliss in the early years. He is obviously one of the weirdest personalities in the Hungarian underground black metal scene. His real name is shrouded in mist and only the members of Sear Bliss know his face. This is because he used to wear a mask and turn his back on the audience during the gigs. Even on the early Sear Bliss photos we can only see his back. Well, Forest Silence is his project, therefore The Pilosophy Of Winter consists of five ice cold atpospheric black metal songs.

In fact, two actual members of Sear Bliss (András Nagy and Zoltán Schönberger) played together with Winter on this album, so the supernatural experience is guaranteed. It’s pointless to write about separate songs here, this whole album is a journey to another world reigned by eternal winter and darkness, which unfortunately lasts only 35 minutes.

Winter’s vocals are typical in black metal, his voice is pretty strong even though he has never sung backing vocals in the early Sear Bliss records. We can feel that Forest Silence used to be an ambient project in the past, there aren’t any blast beats here, the tempo is quite slow on the whole disk and the guitars don’t have an important role. The most enchanting instrument on The Philosophy Of Winter is of course the keyboard with the incredible play of Winter. Wonderful!

To sum up, this album is way better than anyone can imagine and it’s not a Sear Bliss clone at all. Anyway, listening to Forest Silence is also strongly recomended for those who like Burzum or any other ambient black metal stuff. The only disadvantage of this release is that it’s too short.

Spacey black metal (and indeed, spacey metal in general) sounds really good most of the time and I wish more bands were willing to dig out the synths, echoing guitar leads and embrace that black, inky void that’s just a few hundred kilometres away. Why sing about Vikings when space is not only much cooler but a lot closer? Admittedly, with a name like "Forest Silence" the lyrical themes probably aren’t dwelling on space travel, the void and so on, but it sort of sounds like Darkspace slowed way down, and the big keys and leads suggest that these guys do know a few constellations and are angry that Pluto’s not a planet anymore.

The songs follow a simple but marvellously effective formula; drums and bass kick out some very repetitive, hypnotic patterns, while the guitars beat out a bunch of rather cool riffs and leads that suggest Burzum making his journey to the stars. Keys are great when they pop up; subtle as all hell but making some star appearances, like in the centrepiece of the album, "At the Dawn of Chaos", where things get particularly spacey in the churning, Filosofem + Darkspace III riffs and layers. "Spirits of the Wind" is another classic; plenty of echoing leads and some rather cool basslines- always nice to hear a bassist doing something interesting; something all to rare in most metal (and indeed, music in general).

These guys really know what they’re doing; the arrangements are brilliantly developed. Leads come and go at the right time, and just when you’re starting to get a little tired of the same few riffs Forest Silence drop in something new and brilliant to get you all excited again. "Bringer of Storm" is a good enough example, a few massive mid paced Burzum-ish lead lines and riffs pummeling you for the first few minutes, before things get slower, keyboard-er and much heavier, all the while the drums keep up their hypnotic beat. These guys spent a lot of time working on these songs, I reckon.

I guess the most obvious problem is that Forest Silence are a bit too keen on that mid paced feel. There’s a few tremelo picking parts, a few bits where the drums will kick things up to double time, but overall it lacks a bit of energy. In my opinion there’s always a bit of a balancing act between the complexity of the arrangements, recording quality and that vague, unquantifiable thing called energy, and like most bands Forest Silence can only manage two out of three. It’s spacey, it’s otherworldly and pretty cool, but it also gets a bit boring from time to time, especially on the longer tracks.

Still, moments where the album drags on a bit are relatively rare and overall I thought this was a pretty good album. It’s cool in that while it’s not this totally bizarre, left-of-field type release it still sounds rather unique; spotting the influences is easy enough (even for a clueless guy like me), however, naming other bands that sound similar is a bit more difficult. It’s not going to set your world on fire, but it’s a solid release, and the world could definitely use more spacey sounding albums like this one.

Try as I have, I can't write a better opening paragraph than metaljerks already did!

On to the album, Philosophy of Winter could have begun with a useless intro of wind noises, harness bells, and other ambience to emphasize the fact that it's about winter. It could have begun with a blastbeat, hyperpicking, and a sharp "Blekh!" However, Forest Silence avoid cliche from the outset. "Bringer of Storms" crashes out of your speakers the instant the CD starts spinning; surging forward at a crushing mid-paced tempo and with simple riffing that pulls you into the melancholy world of this album without cliche sound effects or aspirations of being yet another Immortal tribute band. The song is heavy, hypnotic, and sets the precedent for what to expect on the rest of the album.

A somber bassline begins "Spirit of the Winds" while a sparse guitar melody evokes feelings of desolation. From there, the song takes on some bizarre melodic twists akin to Mayhem's "Dark Night of the Soul." As you listen to Philosophy of Winter, you feel like you are that wanderer in this cold and mysterious place. Then it's as if you are no longer a person. The winter has seeped into your flesh, bones, and soul and frozen you into the landscape. Even now in the middle of summer, these songs are engaging enough to make me forget about the sunshine and heat that lie just outside the window. Winter's vocals are like the snarling rasp of a man who once lost his way in the arctic wilderness, died of exposure, was buried beneath centuries of snow and ice, and has now been awakened to relate his tale by another helpless individual now trudging the same path.

The production is crisp and clear enough for each instrument to be audible. In contrast to the harshness of the guitars, the keyboard tone evokes images of auroras dancing amongst the clouds, cutting through the solid blackness of the night sky, and acting as the only sign of hope for the lonely wanderer. The atmosphere is one of a depressing lightless winter to the point where you can see no escape from this season of death even though logic dictates that spring and rebirth must lie just beyond the next snowdrift. The only drawback to Philosophy of Winter is that the drumming is too similar in each track. The beats are a simplistic 4/4 that act more as a metronome instead of an instrument. However, this fault could also be framed in a positive way by saying that it reflects the slow heartbeat of the frozen landscape or of some dreaded blizzard beast that stalks as you move through this nocturnal spiritquest, waiting to devour you should you lose your way. Some listeners may be bothered by it while others will barely notice. It's unfair to categorize Forest Silence as only black metal, but each listener will hear something different. Fans who enjoy Moonspell's Wolfheart, Satyricon's Dark Medieval Times, and The Gathering's Mandylion will each find something to like here.

Overall, each song on Philosophy of Winter is strong enough to stand alone and together they create a vibe and a world where you can lose yourself in their reality.

Forests. Silence. Winter. Philosophy. Of. Never before have those five words been arranged so fittingly. This album is all about winter. Summer ain’t got shit on winter, bitch. Winter’s got frostbitten motherfuckers all up in your PIECE. Winter’s the fucking bomb. Winter’s ice cold, motherfucker. You don’t fuck with winter. The guy who made this, you know his name? That’s right, motherfucker. Winter.

These are some of the coldest 35 minutes ever recorded. Every song feels like the Grinch pushing your head under a bath of crushed ice. The album marches along to a suffocating drum beat, accompanied by endless tremello picking and the occasional ethereal synth interlude to break any monotony. Winter’s vocals are nothing remarkable, but they’re right for the job. A crackled, distant growl, he sounds like he’s got a sore throat from spending all winter in silent philosophical forests.

If there’s a problem with this album, which there is because I just started the sentence with “If there’s a problem with this album”, it’s that it’s all a little samey. Each track does a tremendous job of sounding distant and cold and all, but that’s it. There’s emotion throughout, but it’s nothing beyond “woah guys, sure is cold eh?”. Not that that’s really such an issue, since there’s only five tracks anyway and they’re all enjoyable enough despite being very similar to one another.

But yeah, anyway. This album is good and I would recommend it. The atmosphere is tremendous. It does a really brilliant job of sounding nice and cold and frostbitten without being intimidatingly raw. The synth really enhances the music without making it sound lame, which is an achievement. Check it out.

Originally written for http://metal-jerks.com