Band:	A Forest Of Stars
Album:	Opportunistic Thieves Of Spring
Style:	Atmospheric black metal
Release date:	June 2010

01. Sorrow's Impetus
02. Raven's Eye View
03. Summertide's Approach
04. Thunder's Cannonade
05. Starfire's Memory
06. Delay's Progression

With The Corpse Of Rebirth, A Forest Of Stars split the Black metal scene in half. One camp thought of it a genius, complex masterpiece, the other camp thought of it a pretentious, overly elaborate piece of drivel. I happily pitched my tent in the former camp and praised AFOS for their fresh approach and their attention to detail and imaginary. At the same time, I 'feared' A Forest Of Stars would prove to be one of the bands that would rapidly depart Black metal in favour of stronger, genre-transcending experimentation. Which would not necessarily be a bad thing, but still, we don't want to lose too many worthwhile to non-metal genres. Having a couple of strong, unique and daring extreme acts around is very healthy for our precious little scene.

My fear has turned out to be groundless. At least, for now. Opportunistic Thieves Of Spring is in many ways darker, blacker and stronger than its predecessor.

But let's start with what we already know: Mr Curse still possesses his manic shriek, judging by the wolf-like howl uttered in the opening of "Sorrow's Impetus". He might very well be one of the most hateful shriekers in recent years. He sounds like a crossbreed of Varg, Kvarforth and Marco Kehren, yummy! Something else that's still the same - the odd, estranging vibe. A Forest Of Stars also retained their knack for effortlessly jumping between styles and moods. So far, so good.

As I said, Opportunistic Thieves Of Spring is a much darker album. Its riffs are heavier, doomier than before and the violin is less dominant and more cooperative. It actually sounds a little close to Depressive Black metal at times. Check the opening of "Starfire's Memory" for an example, there's some fantastic ambient darkness to be found there. And just to throw in a nice cliché for good measure, it sounds quite a lot more 'mature' than its predecessor. Yey me for originality. A teeny tiny bit of criticism: it's slightly less adventurous then the debut.

It doesn't take me by surprise as much as the debut that, but that's completely natural of course. A Forest Of Stars has once again released a fresh, unique album that'll stand out for years to come. And as long as bands like this stay within the realms of Black metal, the genre has a bright future. Reach for the stars for A Forest Of Stars!