Forlesen - Black Terrain

Angry Metal Guy

The debut record from San Francisco’s Forlesen hit me at a weird time. At the height of the first, very strict COVID lockdown in the UK, Hierophant Violent struck like a (very, very slow-moving) freight train. A masterclass in slow-build songwriting, exuding patience, confidence and skill in its execution, the album hooked me from the first spin, which was on a sunlit walk, taken as my one permitted piece of outdoor exercise for the day. Combining post-metal and drone with flashes of black metal and doom, Hierophant Violent snagged my first ever 4.5 and with it—the album, not my score—Forlesen secured places on three staff end-of-year lists.¹ Can the follow-up, Black Terrain, released following the band’s relocation to Portland, OR and a change of label (from the now winding-down Hypnotic Dirge to I, Voidhanger) possibly compete with its predecessor’s near perfection?

Comprising only four tracks but still running just shy of an hour, Black Terrain is nevertheless much more immediate than Hierophant Violent. That’s not to say we’re dealing in blazing tremolos or blasts, at least not straight out of the gate. But Forlesen’s debut opened so imperceptibly that for several minutes it almost wasn’t there. That gorgeous minimalism was what I loved. Black Terrain opens with “Strega,” a 19-minute epic, the first half of which weirdly, and simultaneously, reminds me of Crippled Black Phoenix’ Bronze and the most recent Sólstafir, Endless Twilight of Codependent Love. Thick bass and heavily distorted, almost progressive, guitars lines twist around each other. Dual, semi-chanted, male-female vocals, courtesy of Ascalaphus (ex-Botanist) and Bezaelith (Lotus Thief, and also ex-Botanist) weave a mesmerizing air. As “Strega” builds towards its midway point, however, hints of harshness creep in, with Maleus’ drumming stepping up a gear and a blackened rasp entering the vocal fray, while the back end falls off into Lotus Thief territory.

Black Terrain by FORLESEN

None of this is to suggest that Forlesen has abandoned atmospheric slow builds, characterized by static, synths and organ. Far from it, as the title track demonstrates, its 9 minutes turned over entirely to drone, noise and stuttering percussion. Like a rainstorm on the horizon, “Black Terrain” is always threatening to break. You can see, or in this case hear, the occasional flash but it feels heavy and pregnant with threat. The release, when it arrives, does so very suddenly as “Harrowed Earth” erupts straight into raw, harsh black metal, with furious drumming bordering on d-beat in places, trem-picked guitars and howling, rasped vocals. Closing track, “Saturnine,” mirrors Black Terrain’s opener “Strega.” Another 18-minute beast, half dissonant noise, eerie synths and delicate organs before the progressive doom opens up once more on the track’s back half, which is some of the strongest material on show on Black Terrain.

Forlesen’s ambition on its sophomore record is both clear to hear and very welcome. I didn’t want, and nor did we get, Hierophant Violent: Part Deux. What we did get is long-form songwriting, which displays that same confident patience we saw on the debut and the production is excellent, a step up from the already good job on the previous record. Black Terrain is not entirely free from issues, however. First, the extended black metal section on “Harrowed Earth” highlighted to me that the style really isn’t Forelesen’s strength. On Hierophant Violent, the similarly sudden explosion of fury about 10 minutes into “Nightbridge” worked because it served as a brief, shocking jolt, shaking the listener from their pleasant lethargy. The more fully realized version on “Harrowed Earth” just isn’t quite up to scratch for its extended purpose, however. While I love the slow-build-followed-by-huge-payoff model, there is such a thing as overdoing it and both the title track and front half of “Saturnine” count as overdoing it, albeit only slightly.

Much as I wanted it to, in my heart, I never really expected Black Terrain to be able to match that magic I felt from Hierophant Violent. Perhaps that is as much to do with the place I was in—we were all in—when Forlesen dropped its debut. That should not overshadow the fact that Black Terrain is a very good album, which I have no doubt will get repeat spins from me going forward. Ascalaphus has grown as a songwriter, building more of a progressive doom sound into “Strega” and “Saturnine,” which has me very excited for Forlesen’s next outing.

Rating: 3.5/5.0
DR: 8 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: I, Voidhanger Records
Websites: forlesen.bandcamp.com | facebook.com/forlesen
Releases Worldwide: October 28th, 2022

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