Forest Stream
Tears Of Mortal Solitude

It must be cold there in Siberia. That icy wind that penetrates the bones is the mirror of what the six members of Forest Stream put into music. The ice oppressing the Siberian expanses is the same that the listener feels in the poignant and terrifying notes of this album. "Tears Of Mortal Solitude" is the natural blend between the placid calm of Russia and the dissonant and chilling melodies of symphonic black, united with doom passages of explosive beauty. The evocation of nature, and in this case that dear to their land, is already inherent in the opener "Autumn Elegy" where we find the band’s programmatic manifesto: the black/doom outbursts show us a suffering nature just like man, placed in contemplation of this creation. The searing growl of Sonm transports us into this scenario in which the listener remains captivated.

Forest Stream's music is not for everyone. By this, I certainly do not mean that it should remain a "cult" for the few, but faced with a musical proposal of this kind, many could turn up their noses. I, who am not one to easily digest this type of sound, was really surprised when listening to the Russian band’s first studio work , which came out seven years ago. Each composition in the work is a complex musical pearl, made of evocative synths, keyboards, light guitar touches, screams, guitars. Mutable partitions alternate in long-duration songs, creating a symphony that to the ears of the writer is one of the most beautiful things heard in quite a while. A clear example of all the aforementioned characteristics is "Last Season Purity": a play of echoes and outbursts, a song capable of catapulting us into an unknown world, an enchanted garden. Not to mention the dark "Mel Kor" with its nebulous lyrics, as well as "Snowfall", a marked example of the union between the sound and what nature represents for Forest Stream: the singing becomes anguished and the melodic openings halfway through the track make this song the most complete of the entire album.

Although the Russian band picks up here and there cues from those groups that made the genre famous (see the early My Dying Bride, the early Katatonia, and also a certain influence from Opeth by Akerfeldt), the six musicians have managed to amalgamate various components, shaping a surprisingly convincing work made of heavy moments and intimate reflections. The more "tormented" side of the band emerges in the five minutes of "Whole", where the singer tries his hand at clean vocals (his scream is better to be honest). What captures the listener's attention is the soundscape on which the song moves: lightly hinted keyboards evoke ancestral landscapes perfectly connected to the tormented soul the text speaks of. But what truly makes Tears Of Mortal Solitude a great album is the consistency of the tracks: all 9 compositions are true gems and none remain as an end in "themselves", a pity that is sometimes found in an album of this type. "Winter Solstice" and "Black Swans" prove the band's great talent in bringing to life songs that are difficult to assimilate, with changes in time and atmosphere, yet they manage to convey emotions.

Forest Stream remains a little-known band: their musical proposal certainly does not help them become known, but already with this debut, they have demonstrated their great compositional ability. An intimate and existential album, anchored to that idea of lyricism and romanticism that made My Dying Bride great, but absolutely more violent in attitude. A debut album of absolute level, which bodes well for the future. A must-have.

1. "Autumn Elegy" (3:52)
2. "Legend" (8:07)
3. "Last Season Purity" (12:15)
4. "Snowfall" (9:55)
5. "Mel Kor" (8:50)
6. "Whole" (5:15)
7. "Black Swans" (10:33)
8. "Winter Solstice" (8:27)
9. "Steps Of Mankind" (1:34)