Carpathian Forest
Black Shining Leather
[Avantgarde]


A rather obscure norwegian black metal act, even if it's quite amazing to still find such a thing. Albeit I am not to pleased with sadomasochism as a lyrical content of black metal, Carpathian Forest does make it work, as it focuses on the sick and extreme, and actually in this case functions well as a metaphor for both misanthropy and nihilism, perhaps because it can express the sickness, that the black filth which is the music fails to put into words, but still manage to conjure up in abstract form. A rather interesting blend of symphonic elements, second wave norwegian sound black metal elements and lastly elements from black metal's roots in a nearto perfect mix, leaving the listener with a cold, harsh and utterly vile sense of death and pain, as sick and depraved as only those truely hating the futility of excistance, can create and understand.


© 2000 sharund