A Forest Of Stars – Opportunistic Thieves Of Spring
1. Sorrow's Impetus
2. Raven's Eye View
3. Summertide's Approach
4. Thunder's Cannonade
5. Starfire's Memory
6. Delay's Progression
A Forest Of Stars delivered one of UKBM's more eccentric and interesting offerings with 08's 'The Corpse Of Rebirth', like Marmite it was an acquired taste but the combination of Akercocke evil aristocracy, Arcturus-esque avant garde black metal and lashings of violin was as alluring as the underwear draw of a teenage crush.
Follow up 'Opportunistic Thieves Of Spring' is apparently “an unearthly journey from the rise of mankind to the Golden Age to its decline in the Kali Yuga”, which seems like a slightly pretentious way of saying it's an album about how the world is going to shit and isn't aided by the fact the six 'chapters' come across like the names of expensive ales sold at an exclusive Victorian men's club. Musically, it's the plain black metal that has always been the weakest part of AFOS and little has changed in that department, the opening track stumbling between ambiance and plodding BM with little effect, but while 'Raven's Eye View' suffers similarly the accompanying instrumentation manages to drive the song forward, particularly the haunting repeated woodwind. The album as a whole takes on a rather schizophrenic quality all in all, each track containing engrossing sections of enveloping avant BM (such as the final few minutes of the aforementioned track and 'Summertide's Approach', and when 'Thunder's Cannonade' kicks in) that all are too often shattered by periods of silence or abrupt ambient sections. 'Opportunistic Thieves...' is undoubtedly a beautiful album, but one that at all times seems to be struggling under the weight of its own ideas.
Review by James Minton
Opportunistic Thieves Of Spring Out now on Transcendental Creations
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