Band:	Forest Stream
Album:	The Crown Of Winter
Style:	Doom metal
Release date:	August 24, 2009
A review by:	KwonVerge

01. Feral Magic (Intro)
02. The Crown Of Winter
03. Mired
04. Bless You To Die
05. Autumn Dancers
06. The Seventh Symphony Of...
07. The Beautiful Nature
08. My Awakening Dreamland (Outro)

2003's Tears Of Mortal Solitude was a small sound apocalypse not only to me, but for many adorers of the atmospheric metal scene and I say atmospheric because it was holding within borders a harmonic territory of gothic, doom and black metal under an intense ambiance veil. One could say they released an awesome debut, an explosion of emotions and then vanished in the mist from whence they came. Seven years later the ship of Forest Stream has found its destination, anchored and forgotten somewhere between gloom, frost and solitude in search for The Crown Of Winter.

"Good morning... Just woke up
Today is 20th of September
I wash and dress and then..."

Sometimes words are incapable of dressing up untouched, pure, naked art from the heart of the artist straight to the heart of the listener, yet, I will try to approach The Crown Of Winter with sincerety and respect. Once the album starts unfolding its immense beauty you can't turn your back, it's a one way ticket into the unknown that devours you gently with every passing second until you've lost yourself into the vast soundscapes behind melancholy's complex mask.

"Good morning... Just woke up
Today is 15th of November
I wash and dress and go..."

Harmony, this is the main word that overruns Forest Stream's second work, everything blends wonderfully together, dreams, nightmares and hallucinations turn into compositions that form an impenetrable wall of sound from which there is no escape, the production is such that compliments every single instrument and all together parade in front of your surprised stare. Within the songs you will find a variety of contradictive emotions, ambiances, tempos and ways of expression that keep your interest at high levels without sounding incoherent, the band blends every single idea in an unerring way and so the flow of The Crown Of Winter imprisons your loyalty without any shadow of doubt.

"Good morning... Just woke up
Today is 5th of May
I wash and dress and then..."

Through the whole duration of the album you will notice a symbiotic co-existence, a dual world in which the two elements comprising it leave unharmed one another, yes, i'm referring to the guitars and the keyboards, "The Autumn Dancers". They weave a dance in which they partake heart and soul exchanging leading roles harmonically until they climax together in eruptions of unuttered expression. Powerful and fierce yet also melodic and emotional guitar riffing or soloing moments, fragile acoustic passages and harmonic chords flirt with bittersweet symphonies, nightmarish and ominous sound curtains, seducing dream-like serenades and hallucinating mirages of con-soul-ation. And somewhere inbetween, the magnificent vocal lines like a maneuvring maestro either caress you in an overwhelming way with their clean interpretation or carve the same scar in your heart with their grunting exhumation or more howling/shrieking coldness. And from the core of the earth, a neverending pulse like a pounding heart at various tempos, the rhythm section lends groove, either imposing or accompanying, with the drumming presenting something more than just doing its job.

"And so it goes, day after day.
A pale-gray circle
Of indifferent decay...
I just don't know
What still makes me wake up
To find myself surrounded
By the dead again..."

Once again, Forest Stream managed to release one of those works that intend to be a long-time partner in crime all those lonely nights, a mirror in front of your very eyes, beautiful and ugly at the same time, from the very beginning to the very end, an ornament of gothic, doom, black metal diamonds.

"Morning... Just woke up..."