FORLESEN are streaming their album, Black Terrain, in its entirety over at Decibel Magazine. The album is officially out on October 28th via I, Voidhanger Records. The band draws from dark ambient, epic doom, black metal and slowcore, subverting traditional songwriting.
The band comments: “Black Terrain coheres around themes of dissolution and entropy, traversing and overlapping the intimate and personal with the metaphysical and cosmic, and in doing so, seeking the transcendent. However high-minded this might sound, heartbreak, things falling apart, death, transcendence—these are universal themes. So our muse dances or lurches in perhaps seemingly disparate places that sing with this resonance and we draw thread from them all to hopefully weave something new.”
Stream Black Terrain here: https://www.decibelmagazine.com/2022/10/26/album-premiere-forlesen-black-terrain/
FORLESEN formed in San Francisco at the end of 2016 and released their debut, Hierophant Violent, in 2020. Comprised of two side-length tracks, it soon found a cult following. Now based in Portland, OR, FORLESEN continues their compositional evolution with Black Terrain, expanding into previously untapped musical realms.
As with their debut, Black Terrain’s monolithic songs, at times approaching twenty minutes in length, fully immerse the listener in a contrast of the serene and cacophonous. “Strega” begins shrouded in eerie atmosphere before embarking on a journey from vulnerable ballad to hymnal dirge. The ferocity of “Harrowed Earth” thrusts the album into the realm of black and doom metal. In the aftermath, “Saturnine” brings the album full circle, culminating in an ethereal mantra.
Black Terrain evokes a sense of the grand, but also the intimate. Each instrument and voice is carefully placed and each musical transition seamless to prevent the mesmerizing spell from being broken. FORLESEN have crafted a stunning cinematic masterpiece.
FORLESEN is:
Ascalaphus (ex-BOTANIST) – Vocals, guitars, synth, harmonium, bass
Bezaelith (LOTUS THIEF) – Vocals, bass, guitars, synth
Petit Albert (LOTUS THIEF) – Guitars, synth, Hammond B3 organ, backing vocals
Maleus (ex-KAYO DOT, ex-MAUDLIN OF THE WELL) – Drums
Credits:
Glockenspiel and trumpet performed by Leila Abdul-Rauf.
Music and lyrics by Ascalaphus except lyrics on Black Terrain by Bezaelith.
All music arranged by Forlesen. Drums and Hammond B3 recorded by Justin Phelps at the Hallowed Halls, Portland, OR.
All other recording done in various home studios between 2018 and 2021.
Mixed by Jack Shirley at the Atomic Garden, Oakland, CA.
Mastered by Garrett Haines at Treelady Studios, Pittsburgh, PA.
Artwork by Benjamin A. Vierling
Links:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/forlesen
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/forlesenmusic/
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/0hbsfntkd5jzcw2ytorlmy?si=5d69081c91cd47c6
Bandcamp: https://hypnoticdirgerecords.bandcamp.com/album/hierophant-violent