{"id":38714,"date":"2014-03-27T06:51:35","date_gmt":"2014-03-27T11:51:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/?p=38714"},"modified":"2014-03-29T07:37:13","modified_gmt":"2014-03-29T12:37:13","slug":"dark-forest-the-awakening-cd-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/2014\/dark-forest-the-awakening-cd-review\/","title":{"rendered":"Dark Forest | The Awakening <\/em>"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Alexandra Mrozowska<\/span>
\n– Columnist —<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"Dark\u201cEpic\u201d, \u201cclassic\u201d, \u201ctraditional\u201d \u2013 these are suitable (yet clich\u00e9d) terms to describe Dark Forest\u2019s third album The Awakening<\/em>, the follow-up to their 2011 Dawn Of Infinity<\/em> release, which saw the light of day just recently. The Black Country-based band, inspired with classic heavy and power metal musical aesthetics, deliberately brings the best of both worlds rather than going for any experiments. And there is no blasphemy for a die-hard metalhead in going as far as placing their records between the classics of Iron Maiden and the early Gamma Ray records on one\u2019s CD rack; sound-wise, fans of both should be satisfied with what Dark Forest delivers.<\/p>\n

The Awakening<\/em> starts with a spoken intro (as a matter of fact \u2013 the ending lines of Percy Shelley\u2019s The Mask Of Anarchy<\/em> poem), a prelude to the journey through the world of twin-guitar wizardry and the epic heavy metal tales. All elements required to create \u201ca more perfect union\u201d \u2013 so to speak \u2013 between heavy and power metal are there. The thunder-like drum sound and pumping bass together create a well-balanced background for the massive twin-guitar duel of Christian Horton and Pat Jenkins. And as for the \u201crequirement\u201d of high-pitched, harmonic and powerful vocals, Josh Winnard is the right man in the right place. As befits the diligent representatives of the genre, Dark Forest offers a cross-section of dynamic, fast-paced tracks (\u201cSecret Commonwealth\u201d or the final \u201cSons Of England\u201d) and mid-tempo Maiden-esque tunes (\u201cThe Awakening\u201d, \u201cPenda\u201ds Fan\u201d); there are also traces of slightly updated, or revisited, NWOBHM inspirations on the album (\u201cThe Last Season\u201d). Even the ballad-esque, harmonic \u201cImmortal Remains\u201d has a certain power to it \u2013 one of the biggest challenges in this genre of metal music is how to balance massive instrumental background with the melodic structure of songs, and this is a challenge Dark Forest rises up to.<\/p>\n

Sound-wise, Dark Forest is one of these bands that \u201cgot stuck in the \u201880s …\u201d or, perhaps, early \u201890s. And no matter how often phrases of this kind served as an insult or reproach expressed by the reviewers, in this case the band\u2019s \u201cdatedness\u201d is actually one of their biggest assets. Their newly released album The Awakening proves not only their potential and exceptional musicianship, but also \u2013 gives a listener a chance to break away from the digitally processed, auto-tuned and mercilessly contemporary music enjoyed via Spotify and turn back the hands of time \u2013 at least, a little bit. Dark Forest is the \u201880s\/early \u201890s heavy\/power metal revisited, with the unique climate and certain powerfulness so characteristic to this music. And as it seems, the Britons know well that the hybrid modern-day music genres, such as nu-metal, are here today and gone tomorrow, whereas classic heavy metal sound still stands the test of time. With the limited edition of their newly released album \u2013 The Awakening<\/em> \u2013 also available in the vinyl format, Dark Forest\u2019s rendition of classic metal sound can be even more convincing. And it\u2019s a good reason to dust off your turntable forgotten in the cellar, too! <\/p>\n

Genre: Heavy Metal, Power Metal<\/p>\n

Band:
\nJosh Winnard – Vocals
\nChristian Horton – Guitars
\nPat Jenkins – Guitars
\nPaul Thompson – Bass
\nAdam Sidaway – Drums<\/p>\n

Tracklist:
\n1. The Awakening
\n2. Sacred Signs
\n3. Penda’s Fen
\n4. Turning Of The Tides
\n5. Rise Like Lions
\n6. Immortal Remains
\n7. Secret Commonwealth
\n8. The Last Season
\n9. Sons Of England<\/p>\n

Label: Cruz Del Sur Music<\/p>\n

Website: https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Darkforestuk<\/p>\n

Hardrock Haven rating: 8.5\/10<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Alexandra Mrozowska – Columnist — \u201cEpic\u201d, \u201cclassic\u201d, \u201ctraditional\u201d \u2013 these are suitable (yet clich\u00e9d) terms to describe Dark Forest\u2019s third album The Awakening, the follow-up to their 2011 Dawn Of Infinity release, which saw […]<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":38715,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10848],"tags":[2317,9021,9019,2491,1097,9020],"class_list":{"0":"post-38714","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arcrvws2014","8":"tag-cd-review","9":"tag-cruz-del-sur-music","10":"tag-dark-forest","11":"tag-heavy-metal","12":"tag-power-metal","13":"tag-the-awakening"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38714","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38714"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38714\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38715"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38714"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38714"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hardrockhaven.net\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38714"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}