Band:	Skyforest
Album:	A New Dawn
Style:	Atmospheric black metal
Release date:	February 20, 2020
A review by:	musclassia

01. Along The Waves
02. The Night Is No More
03. Heart Of The Forest
04. Rebirth
05. Wanderer
06. Scattered Ashes

This album is almost the antithesis of everything that black metal was designed to be, and I love it for it.

A New Dawn is the third full album from Skyforest, a Russian project helmed by Bogdan Makarov, who plays all instruments in the band (clean vocals are provided by Michael Rumple and Clare Webster of Flood District and Edenfall, respectively). The most natural genre classification for A New Dawn would be atmospheric black metal, with its widespread use of tremolo, and the presence of blast beats and harsh shrieked vocals (which are admittedly usually buried quite low in the mix). However, this is a million miles away from the likes of Wolves In The Throne Room or even Agalloch; between the extensive use of synths and strings, predominantly sung vocals and hypermelodic, folk-influenced songwriting, Skyforest is far closer to Saor, but arguably even more "epic" and soaring. I'm sure Euronymous would be horrified to hear that the rawness of those early Norwegian black metal records had ultimately led to something as majestic and polished as "The Night Is No More".

Skyforest certainly isn't the first act to conjure some type of folky, symphonic melodic black metal sound; plenty of artists (many of whose names are unfortunately eluding me at present) have similarly pushed the sound of bands such as Moonsorrow to these extremes. Nevertheless, very few of these artists have managed to be so committed to this approach without sounding overly cheesy and saccharine. A New Dawn, with its appropriately vibrant and mystical cover art, possesses a real sense of conviction as it takes the listener on a journey into a fantasy world of wonder and opportunity (the synths on opening track "Along The Waves" in particular give me a real Lord Of The Rings vibe, as well as bringing to mind the likes of "Mana" by Equilibrium and other folk metal epics). This is partly managed by the relentless nature of the songwriting; aside from the soft acoustic introductions to "Along The Waves" and "The Night Is No More", there is little in the way of downtime, with none of the instrumental interludes or spoken word segments that other bands might be tempted to include. Whilst it's by no means 45 minutes of continuous tremolo, there's no substantial pauses for breath amidst the black metal segments and more epic symphonic parts, and as such the album begins to overwhelm the listener before all is said and done.

Although the style is pretty much the same throughout, the tone changes between songs. "Along The Waves" is a very uplifting, rousing opener, and the soaring synths and harmonizing vocals on "The Night Is No More" similarly shine brightly, even set against the more prominent blast beats and muted harsh vocals. In contrast, "Heart Of The Forest" has a more melancholic tone, helped in part by the more pronounced position of the guitars in the mix, as well as the almost whispered harsh vocals that are reminiscent of some of John Haughm's work in Agalloch. This tone is pushed even further on "Wanderer", arguably the jewel in A New Dawn's crown, a sorrowful-yet-beautiful piece featuring intensely dramatic strings and excellent harsh/clean vocal interplay, along with some of the record's most pleasant lead guitar work, which is generally strong throughout. The variety in mood across A New Dawn prevents any staleness creeping into the combination of stirring melodic synths/strings/clean vocals and the black metal instrumental elements, which remain captivating throughout.

There have been a few quality folky atmos-black releases already this year (see Belore's Journey Through The Mountains And Valleys for something more Summoning/Caladan Brood-oriented, or otherwise the more folk-heavy yet similarly compelling Thunder In The Mountains by Dzö-nga), but Skyforest have delivered something truly charming and emotionally resonant with A New Dawn. For those that like their black metal to be grim, this is certainly not the album for you, but for those of a more melodic disposition, A New Dawn is well worth checking out.