Winter Circle

"Winter Circle" was the second of three early dark ambient music demos by the solo Hungarian act Forest Silence on the subject of ... erm, winter and all that it embodies: darkness, the closeness of death and how it reminds humans of their close link to nature and its forces. As a purely ambient project in those days, Forest Silence's link to BM lies mainly in its themes, the atmospheres created and some of its vocals. At the risk of losing a 1,000 Brownie points on this website, I would go so far as to say that a lot of the keyboard-generated music here wouldn't be out of place in a dance club, especially one devoted to dark minimalist techno and dance industrial. But we're not here to dissect the music according to category, we're here because this is quite a wondrous and gorgeous immersion into a dark world that seems one of a kind, this quality of dark ambient is hard to find and so when we do find it, we need to scream about it to let others know!

There are just four fairly long tracks and each one takes the listener deeper into a unique remote and well-hidden kingdom far beneath the surface of the planet. Opening track "The Face of Silence" makes a deep impression right away with a cold, sinister ambience suggestive of a ritual taking place in a forest glade far away from prying eyes: a ritual in which chthonic deities, older than any other gods known to humans, are being summoned. Even daemon spirits, drifting with freezing winds, are in awe of ancient gods they have long forgotten. Ghostly choirs give way to snarling predator voices that chant invocations. The whole track is repetitive but the sense of wonder and the darkness conjured up are so immersive and stunning that listeners will not notice the time slipping away. This is by far the best part of the album. Subsequent tracks build upon the deep cavernous ambience with more soughing background wraith choirs, multi-voiced reptilian daemons slavering away over sacrificial victims, hefty doses of cold-air atmosphere and stark minimalist tribal percussion and keyboard rhythms highlighted with reverb. Repetition of rhythms (with subtle variations) reinforce and sustain the claustrophobic and sometimes machine-like but always inhuman ambience.

The title track departs from the style established by earlier by emphasising swirling space-ambient flotsam and jetsam and tonal swash over chanting devil voices. Fierce wind storms are blowing about but there's something a bit repetitive about them which detracts from this virtual mini-film soundtrack. Past the halfway mark for this piece, the music merely becomes menacing but does not result in anything major that would sum up what the album is aiming for.

This is a highly absorbing work though towards the end the album shows signs of running out of (freezing) puff. The last couple of tracks especially could have done with editing for length as they become very monotonous. For sheer evocative atmosphere alone though, this demo is unbeatable; it's a rare example of a work in which (early on at least) repetition, a minimal approach, emphasis on mood and atmosphere and use of effects combine to create a unique ad stunning hell universe.