Forest Of Fog
Rabenflug

LA RECENSIONE

An enveloping and melancholically dreamlike music: this is how one might summarize the essence of "Rabenflug", the only demo by "Forest of Fog", a Swiss one-man black metal band, a solo project by Warburz, one of the guitarists of the much more famous Eluveitie.

The album, dating back to 2003, has the distinction of being completely instrumental: no vocals therefore for all six tracks of the work, with a total duration of about half an hour. Enchanting the listener and transporting them into the sad shroud of the "Raven's Flight" thus becomes the task of the guitar, and Warburz proves to be a composer of considerable skill, expertly weaving hypnotic and repetitive riffs with a raw and glacial flavor of the Darkthrone school, yet imbued with a sumptuous taste for a melody abounding in epic sounds and, in some rare measure, darkly cadenced, reminiscent of the abyssal symphonies of Burzum's best "Det som engang var." "Rabenflug" manages to create a particular atmosphere, coldly autumnal, tinged and variegated with the same gray and misty hues as the artwork to the sadly clear colors of a September vespers.

An apparently (and erroneously) little varied work, moving from the sweetness of the splendid intro, entrusted to the calm sound of a piano immersed in a woodland atmosphere complete with a slow rustling of water and birdsong to accompany it, to the impetuous, compelling, and obsessive violence of "Schwertes Blut", and again from the almost shining majesty of "Das Licht Erlosch..." to the epic tones and keyboard interludes of "Walking The Endless Path", to end in the dark and melancholic intertwining riffs and grooves of "Nebelleben", almost nostalgic in its acoustic outro, and in the title track: twilight, with a decisive and powerful stride, emotionally rich in its solos of strong pathos, atmospheric in its conclusion of piano, thunder and distant, deep crow cawing.

Perhaps "Forest Of Fog's" finest work together with the recent "Abgründe", "Rabenflug" is a particularly introspective work with a challenging initial impact: savoring its beauty, it reveals itself through images and emotions evoked as the perfect soundtrack for the end of a summer season that vanishes, swift and relentless.