Asbel - Forest - A Nihilistic Tale -Review-

Here we have a one man Black metal project from Colombia or rather a DSBM project.

As he is an ex-member of the band Misanthrope (interviewed here not long ago) i thought

this cant be bad.......And i was right!

Well i only heard this latest EP so i cant say much about the artist as a whole as he has

been very productive since 2003 with 5 EPs & 6 splits & 6 full albums! Yeah so it be hard to

compare this to the rest, maybe his style has changed much during this time i dont know but i digress.

This "depressive" sub genre of Black metal is seldom something i dive into or really enjoy but this is a good example of how it can be done in a solid way.

First thing that strikes me is the clear and open production to the overall tonal landscape

, it sounds very well done with mixing in extra layers of atmospheric details as sounds from

nature (water, wind etc) sure it is not uncommon of course but its tastefully intergrated here.

Even the types of instruments (besides drums, bass, guitarr) is varied with like violines

(perhaps done by synth/keyboard but i cant tell)

The electric acoustic finger picking is also here as in many DSBM bands as well as some nice

tortured raspy vocals. All is flowing in a nice melancholic way and for me its more a beautiful

journey that is painted through the compositions then depressive but such things is different for

everyone i guess. Also nice flow and ebb in the music and it never drags or gets silly....Well

i have not read the lyrics so i cant talk about that part at all.

During these 4 songs (21 min) you get a good dose of music that has been given a proper care

which holds your interest from start to finish. A solid EP in other words and i think people from

different tastes can find something in Asbel not just DSBM people.

The only negative for me in this package is the cover photo/look, not just my taste.

One stand out track is the first one called "Prelude" where there is some strong female vocals

singing through it all, yeah that is not often i can say that about female vocals in Black metal!

Her voice is sombre and grown (not old!) and her delivery feels honest and fitting the subject.

Released on CD by Blasphemous Attack Productions

Link:

https://blasphemousattack.com/