Album Review | Finsterforst - …Zum Tode Hin

Finsterforst is amazing and their new album ‘…Zum Tode Hin’ makes me want to scream it off a mountaintop.  Each of the five tracks on the album is over and in some cases way over the ten-minuet mark--a clear departure from their earlier work ‘Weltenkraft’.  Which means plenty of musical interludes (a favorite of mine), that sounds like focused jam sessions more than anything, and offer the listener a sonic treat in between main courses.

I might just run with this food thing and say that I would liken my first listen of ‘…Zum’ of that feeling you get when you bite into an ice cream sandwich. Your front teeth are a bit sensitive, maybe because you drink a lot of citrus juice, or because you don’t brush as often as you used to--I don’t know why but I am getting off track. My first ‘bite’ was shockingly sweet.

I do listen to a pretty vast amount of folk metal, but Finsterforst was something different, the likes of which I had never heard. Apart from the more common instruments found in metal, Finsterforst makes great use of both accordion and tin whistle, injecting a polka groove throughout.  The song structure is such that I never once got bored with this album, despite some repetitive sequences and as I mentioned before long songs.

Were my ears a stomach, they were never quite full unless fed great lyrics with some meaning or at least pleasant structure. After some late night translation sessions with my girlfriend (Finsterforst’s lyrics are in German) we found that lyrically we had stumbled across a gem. Calling to not be passed up by even the most discerning ‘deep-thinkers, ‘…Zum’s’ lyrics are as heavy as an elephant's balls and upon deciphering them my ears were full and satisfied.

Could I feel good about calling Finsterforst’s new album brilliant? Yes, I could! I have and I will continue to do so from the mountaintops--or even better, the comfortable seat at my desk.