Band:	Forest Stream
Album:	Tears Of Mortal Solitude
Style:	Doom metal
Release date:	January 27, 2003
A review by:	Azhidahak

01. Autumn Elegy
02. Legend
03. Last Season Purity
04. Snowfall
05. Mel Kor
06. Whole
07. Black Swans
08. Winter Solstice
09. Steps Of Mankind

Today it was a very cold and rainy day, just one of those days when you feel like doing nothing. I have been sitting at home all day doing nothing but watching all these stupid programs on TV and reading newspapers. Now it's starting to rain even more and you can hear how the rain scratches the window. Today I had bought this new album, Tears of Mortal Solitude by Forest Stream (a pretty new doom-metal band from Russia) but I forgot to listen to it until now. I putted on the album and went away to the kitchen to make myself a warm glass of chocolate-milk. And when I came back, I experienced one of the most beautiful hours in my life?.

The album starts very softly, with some very mysterious melodies and a very quiet whisper, then you hear some angry growls which makes you realise this is not a mild/weak melodic album only. The second track, Legend, starts with a faster tempo followed by grunts that fits the melody perfect. This track is 8 minutes long but the melody and rhythm alternate each 3 minutes keeping you amazed for the entire song without boring you for a second. The third track, last season purity, starts with a little slower tempo and has a more melodic side to it, but the atmosphere that they create with this song is unbelievable, it is like they are painting with their instruments, I personally get the picture of a swan in a river every time I hear this song. But that's only for the first part of the song, because for every minute of the song, the atmosphere and the sound of the song changes, until we reach the 8th minute of this track when we start hearing some very catchy melodic riffs and suddenly you can hear one of the most beautiful solos on the album which is followed by a deep growl by "Sonm the Darkest" , once again - unbelievable.

The album continues in this way, every song starts with its own beautiful sound and melody, with a big variety and makes us feel like we are sitting in a time-machine that takes us through all the seasons of the year; spring, summer, winter, autumn and then again spring and so on. Some songs are a bit more extreme with more deep and angry growls but still, they all have the beautiful dreamy and catchy atmosphere. My favourite track from the album must be Whole which is probably one of the best songs I have heard in my life. This song also contains clean vocals, which later changes into grunts. The last track of the album is a little bit different, in this song (Steps of Mankind) we hear some beautiful piano interlude without any vocals, this time it feels like the time-machine have brought us to the sky right in the middle of the night, so beautiful its beyond imagination.

No matter how much I write about this album I will never be able to explain how beautiful and good the songs really are and unfortunately there is no space for me to explain about each track of the album.

I have written a lot of reviews before, but I have never rated any album 10/10, not even albums from my biggest favourite bands, but now, this is the first album that I am rating 10, and I see no reason why I shouldn't, the production is great, the melodies and atmosphere is brilliant, the variety is awesome, the artwork is very beautiful, every tiny detail on this album is perfect.

My last words are: if you have read this review and you don't have this album until the end of this week then you shouldn't call yourself a metalhead anymore.