I thought I would finally return with a blog post. University this year is really busy, so this will continue to be on the back-burner until I am finished. That said I will try and update it once a week during term time next year.

I will also try and do a review a week for Echoes and Dust. Check out my profile page for reviews and then have a browse of the other writers work.

I would also recommend checking out the record of the year 2015 as well. Who knows you may discover new bands to enjoy.

Right on with the review.  This review will focus on the Aftermath album by Skyforest which you can find on Bandcamp that was released in 2014.  Skyforest started as a one man band project, but for this album additional musicians were brought in. Skyforest are described as a melancholic metal band on Bandcamp and the album is described as atmospheric black. This should give you some idea of what the general sound of the album is like. It can be very uplifting and contains shoegazing as well.

The album begins with ‘Aftermath’ a one minute track that is used to build up to the next song ‘Yearning for the Past’.  We get a very atmospheric opening to this track with a rumble of thunder and rain leading us into a synth opening that builds up the track. This leads to the drum kicking in and some tortured screams as the song takes of.  The song is ten minutes long and is constantly building to its climax which features clean vocals. Overall it is  excellent and is followed by the equally good ‘I Wish the Dawn Would Never Come.’ It follows a similar path to the previous track but is much more sombre and not as uplifting. Following on from this we get a much heavier track with ‘Nothing,  Worthless’ and then ‘Inexistence’. They are both good tracks that lead us to the album’s highlight Together in Death.’ This is a beautiful but haunting tracks that alternate between clean male and female vocals and the screams that have come previously to great effect. ‘Ascension’ the final track brings the album to an atmospheric end.

Aftermath is a wonderful album that I would highly recommend to anyone that is a fan of metal, black or otherwise.