ALBUM REVIEW: Reluctantly – Suicide Forest

Residing on the very outer edges of extreme metal, where conventional black metal begins to coalesce with ambient, gothic and noise, depressive black metal is definitely one of those “love it or hate it” kind of niches that is so hard to do correctly. When it is done right, it can sound absolutely fantastic, but, as is sadly the case with a lot of kinds of black metal, there’s plenty of acts out there that have a tendency to rehash what has preceded them, with mediocre results. Arizona’s SUICIDE FOREST fall into the former camp, and are one of the more interesting DSBM acts to rise to prominence in the last few years. The band’s latest album, Reluctantly comes less than two years after their self-titled debut, and hot on the heels of last years split with CHROME WAVES, and captures SUICIDE FOREST at perhaps its most impressive yet.

Reluctantly, with its huge, droning chords and steady drums, sets a bleak tone immediately, with the opaque and monotonous nature of the guitars being pierced by great, shrill vocals and haunting ambience courtesy of the keyboards, with the only real variety coming from a brief section built around cleaner guitars. It’s a lengthy, claustrophobic piece of music that relies heavily upon creating a hypnotic feel, proving to be engrossing in spite of its minimalism, easing the listener into the record. As The Light Fades pt. I is a livelier affair by comparison, with a faster, urgent pace and energetic musicianship, especially the tight, Punky drums and meatier guitar work. It’s a great example of another extreme of DSBM; where the opener was plodding and brooding, something that is good if done correctly, this is more visceral, with the murky production and ambient keyboard flourishes lending a raw gothic edge that makes it even more appealing. Remorse, a short and powerful instrumental piece that brings back the repetitive approach of the first track, acts as a short, but incredibly effective interlude that breaks the albums weightier compositions up perfectly, whilst making full use of the sepulchral mix to add to this charm.

Trembling In Emptiness introduces another musical element that works exceptionally well in DSBM, vast keyboard sections that add a sombre atmosphere to proceedings. It’s a nice change from some the the dirge-like hooks of the albums earlier offerings, giving the first few minutes of this track a grandiose quality, before launching back into the dark, depressive climes of black metal. The bulk of this track does a great job of blending the aggressive components in its sound with the sublime ones, resulting in a varied and enduring track that works extremely well. As The Light Fades pt. II starts off with a far cleaner guitar sound and feels as if it’s going to be a much more slow burning affair than earlier offerings. However, it abruptly shifts into perhaps the most cacophonous motifs on the whole album, with dense, near impenetrable musicianship again giving way to more atmosphere drenched fare, something that not only gives this song an unpredictable side, but also makes it a lot more interesting and diverse, keeping the listener on their toes whilst managing to be a brilliant climax to the record.

DSBM is a kind of black metal that it’s very hard to get right. However, SUICIDE FOREST have not only surpassed their own benchmark, but also the benchmarks set by many of their peers. Early on in the record, notably on the first and third songs, there is a repetitiveness and minimalism that many one man bands can easily slide into, but it makes the album feel hypnotic rather than monotonous, and once the album really gets going, the song-writing gains more confidence and diversity that help make the album, as a whole, a lot more impressive. The balance between the raw black metal, more polished cleans and foreboding ambience is just right, with the band not leaning heavily towards element over the others, capturing the essence of what this style should sound like without straying into the realms of parody, making it arguably one of the best examples of DSBM to see the light of day in the last few years.

Rating: 8/10

Reluctantly is set for release March 26th via Avantgarde Music. 

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