Forest of Shadows
Six Waves of Woe

The gray clouds have now taken complete control of the sky, the black cobblestones seem to reflect the darkness of the sky, seem to reflect the darkness of the soul. A few steps and the Morava is beneath me, only the Charles Bridge separates me from the flowing waters of the river. The lapping of the water against the bridge walls is barely perceptible, covered by the chatter of the crowd, covered by the false cheer of the street artists, by the laughter of the carefree girls walking, by the school groups on a trip, by my classmate calling out to me, whom I do not wish to pay attention to.

The water is beneath me, its flow is something unstoppable, mysteriously invincible, the water always wins, the flow of water always wins. It feels almost like entering it, that cursed river, and the flow of the water makes me connect with another flow, that of life: a flow of energy that continuously and completely transforms my existence and highlights the contradictions in me, highlights how my image has changed over the years and how it continues to change now, at this precise moment, not only to my eyes but also to the eyes of others. All this happens continuously, inexorably, and can only evoke a sense of painful bewilderment and bitterness.

The flow I described I found that afternoon in Prague with a CD playing in the background: "Six Waves Of Woe". Because that album is the flow, the times dictated by the drums change continuously, the guitar riffs weave slow and decadent fabrics and then powerful and majestic ones. But let's first go through a bit of history: Forest Of Shadows is a one-man Swedish band founded in 1997 and devoted, until a few months ago at least, to a death doom metal of, excuse the term, very fine craftsmanship.

With this album released at the end of last year, Niclas Frohagen (this is the name of the person behind the project), seems to want to change direction slightly yet decisively. This is because, while in the two main previous works released respectively in 2001 and 2004 the sound was oriented towards typical death doom metal sonorities: with very cadenced tempos, heavy guitar riffs, and growl voice alternating with a clean and suffering voice; in this Six Waves Of Woe things change. The reference genre is undoubtedly still doom, but the riffs change, what was only perceptible in "Departure", also because of the poor recording which still gave a very minimal cut to the sound, here finally takes shape and the typical death doom riffs give way to riffs that closely resemble those typical of stoner.

The album is composed of six tracks, with a total duration of forty-seven minutes. The track tasked with opening the dance is "Submission", the song begins with a sweet guitar arpeggio laid over very light drum strikes, sweet keyboard drops fall whenever Frohagen's hand begins an arpeggio. And then the electric guitar comes in, an implosion and then nothing will be the same: the flow will begin, the guitars will paint impenetrable walls, the singer's whiny and slightly nasal voice will caress the ears, soon that interplay of full and empty will be created, alternating to create a magnificent and sad relay. The song tells of a man who has now lost all illusions and looks at that meaningless horizon that is reality. In the next track, "Selfdestructive" the pain of loss is flaunted in our faces, the pain of no longer possessing a guide, a point of reference, Her. And the pain can only turn into anger, and the anger can only explode into a deep, round, and terrifying blind growl in one of the most emotional, majestic, and pathos-rich moments of the album. From here on, there is nothing left to do but let oneself be carried away by the flow, to ever-new, always gray places, barren shores and dry trees that greet our lost body in the river of life. The other tracks continue in this manner, with cadenced guitar riffs, sweet keyboard contours, and a voice sometimes sweet and lamenting and at other times, in the most majestic moments, angry and aching.

And one almost feels like annihilating the world, destroying it with a gesture, swallowing it only to defecate it as the waste it is, from some part of nowhere. Bitterness generates more bitterness, impossible not to go back with memories, to when one still believed in a stable future, with one's own family, one's own job: all destroyed by reality. Meanwhile, the river continues to flow, invincibly and tyrannically.

Escape, that's what Niclas tells us in this work, an escape into oneself to escape from a world too frightening to be faced, a world that could have been of that man who now, can only scream and curse himself for the opportunities thrown away.

And so the album ends and with it also ends the perception of the flow of life; the sky was gray above Prague and the heart was gray inside me, another afternoon wasted, I thought, another afternoon wasted torturing my brain while I should have spent it joyfully like all the students on a trip.

Having thought this, I walked toward the castle.

Summing up the album, well, I can only recommend purchasing it, especially to the lovers (alas, few) of doom. You will purchase a work of great emotional impact, to be experienced from the first to the last note to finish listening exhausted but, at the same time, satisfied.

Perhaps never as in this case have I found myself struggling to list the flaws; the only flaw that can be pointed out is in the last track, beautiful but perhaps a bit too long and repetitive, but again, these are very, very subjective details.

And let the perception of flowing begin...