ALBUM REVIEW: VotIVe – Ophidian Forest

OPHIDIAN FOREST are cult veterans of the black metal scene in both the US and the Netherlands, and have, over the course of four full length records, two splits and twelve years, carved out a respectable reputation for creating some genuinely different and imaginative black metal. Since reforming after a five year hiatus back in 2016, the band have been going from strength to strength creatively, with their comeback record, Sussurus, marking a new, lofty benchmark for the bands music. Their latest, fourth album, VotIVe, sees them branch out with their sound even further, resulting in what is, perhaps, one of the most unique and engrossing black metal records of the year, and a worthy and follow up to its predecessor.

Nerthus, the dark, monolithic track that opens this record, is ferocious and cacophonous from the first note. Oppressively chaotic and bleak, the thunderous drums, thick, jarring guitar hooks and acerbic, visceral vocals all add to the sharp, acidic quality of the music. There’s some subtle psychedelic moments throughout this track, which give the music a dreamy, atmospheric sound that makes it every bit as hypnotic as it is vicious. Sliding seamlessly between fast and furious sections and far more reserved, mid-tempo ones, it’s an eclectic song that has plenty of musical range from start to finish without a dull moment in its near nine minute running time. As the track reaches it climactic moments, the dense black metal edge gives way to some epic, keyboard driven parts that are reminiscent of the music of Ennio Morricone, injecting a feel of a spaghetti western into the mix, a sonic flourish that works incredibly well here. It’s a truly great song that starts this album off right.

Baduhenna, with precise, intense drumming and robust, grandiose guitar hooks, peppered with powerful keyboard motifs and shrill, harrowing vocals, is another bombastic and ethereal affair, with a few space rock notes thrown in for good measure. This music eventually shudders to a grinding halt, before launching into another fierce, crushing section that is characterised by expansive guitars, epic keyboards and intricate, precise drums, which brings this song to its end on a suitably glorious and vast note. Sandraudiga takes the music down a far more restrained route with more minimal guitar and drum passages, allowing the music’s atmosphere to truly carry the sound for the most part. The distortion drenched tones and sprawling keys make for a much more ambient offering with some off kilter, eerie parts which create a sense of unease and dread, making this music all the more immersive, haunting and instantly memorable. The final moments of Sandraudiga, a soaring, keyboard-centric piece of music, provides a great break from the rawer and more rabid side of the bands sound that proves to be a refreshing change of pace that adds yet more depth to this albums sound.

Vagdavercustis is a brilliant, dissonant slab of furious black metal with a solid bluegrass undertone that makes it stand out from the pack almost immediately, with some violin and banjo style performances from the keyboards adding a unique edge to this song. There’s still a noticeable ambient bent to the sound of this song, with a caustic and bestial black metal licks adding a lot of darkness to the proceedings, with the two styles complementing each other really well throughout. Vagdavercustis is another grandiose piece of music that manages to liberally apply enough idiosyncratic flavour to the music, making for a memorable and diverse song.

Nehalennia is a, as far as this album goes, one of the more straight forward tracks on here. It focuses much more on the black metal core of the bands sound, with a few sparse, majestic atmospheric elements being placed into the music to help to create a meatier, more substantial sound. More so than the preceding four offerings, this is rooted in an old school, sepulchral black metal sound, showcasing that OPHIDIAN FOREST are more than capable of producing high quality music even when the vast majority of their unorthodox and ambience centred sound is stripped away. Bar the tracks closing minutes, there’s little in the way of powerful, prominent keyboard passages in the mix, but this does not detract from the overall intensity and ferocity of the sound.

Viradectis is a comparatively short, sharp shock of a song when held up alongside the sprawling monoliths that have come before it, with the focus of the music once again being the atmospheric side. The music backing this up is definitely powerful and bombastic, which makes for an incredibly dense, robust slab of pagan black metal in the vein of a band like FALKENBACH. There isn’t a ton of variety here and being an instrumental track, this is a lot more apparent. But luckily the main motifs of the track are that good and performed so well that this criticism proves to only be a minor one. It’s a great pallet cleanser that creates a climactic feel perfectly, and sets the listener up for the seventh and final track on the album, Hella; this song brings VotIVe to a close brilliantly, and ultimately proves to be the perfect offering to end the album with. It’s epic in the true sense of the word, with the keyboards adding a vast, expansive soundscape to the thick, primal edge of the guitars and drums. There’s a few excellent melodic leads spread throughout this, which are light and angelic, in direct contrast with the grating growls and shrill shriek of the vocals. This is a powerful, morosely bleak track, with the bombastic side of the music tinged with plenty of melancholy, adding a lot of emotive weight to the music. It’s a solemn, haunting note to end the album on, and leaves the listener wanting to hear more.

VotIVe is an excellent album without much in the way of a dull moment to pull up for criticism. The black metal is raw, firmly rooted in an old school sound, and the atmospheric, ambient elements add to the music massively, without straying into the realm of mediocrity. These aspects of the sound are far from straight forward and by the numbers, which gives this album a completely different sound and feel from the majority of atmospheric black metal acts. It’s a record that is well worth checking out, mainly for its interesting musicianship and harsh, dissonant riffs, and stands as OPHIDIAN FOREST‘s greatest record to date.

Rating: 9/10

VotIVe is out now via Code666 Records. 

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