DARK FOREST — Beyond the Veil (review)

DARK FOREST — Beyond the Veil album cover

Album · 2016 · Heavy Metal

4.5/5 · 2016-09-27
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Traditional heavy metal. It's the genre where this music that we love all started and evolved from. Many bands still fly the flag for it no matter how many new genres and sub-genres emerge as the years go on (in recent years we're been introduced to the likes of djent and blackgaze). However I find that few of these bands manage to consistently produce work of the kind of quality that can really stand up to the masters from the seventies and eighties, particularly those from the United Kingdom, metal's birthplace. Black Sabbath, Judas Priest and of course my personal favourite, Iron Maiden. Most newer heavy metal bands don't come close to acts of that calibre and probably never will, though they may make one or two really good albums. But there are a few who are proving time and time again that they are an exception. Over the pond in the United States is A Sound of Thunder who have consistently proved themselves album after album, while MorningStarlett produced a belter of a debut that firmly set them on the path to do the same thing, if only they'd get around to following it up. And here in the UK we have Dark Forest, who may just be the best traditional metal band the UK has produced in years. Beyond the Veil (2016) is their fourth album.

For the first time featuring the exact same line-up as the group's previous album, that being The Awakening (2014), Beyond the Veil sees Dark Forest beating many of their previous milestones. It's both their longest release to date at about 73 minutes, and it also features their longest track in the form of the closing The Lore of the Land, taking up just over 14 of those minutes by itself. With any lengthy album there comes the chance that it may end up being too overblown and thus get boring, but there is a reason why I rate Dark Forest as high as I do (putting them on the same page as the likes of Iron Maiden and Judas Priest isn't done lightly): they are bloody good at what they do and like with Iron Maiden's later albums, the long running time isn't an issue on Beyond the Veil. Not in the least.

I got my first taste of Dark Forest's music with their second album Dawn of Infinity (2011). They'd been around a fair bit by that point, since 2002, and had released a demo and a couple of EP's in the lead up to the debut album Dark Forest (2009). Back then they were fronted by guitarist Christian Horton, who unfortunately clearly wasn't cut out for the frontman role and the decision to bring in a new singer, first Will Lowry-Scott and then current vocalist Josh Winnard, proved to be the best decision that Dark Forest ever made. But even back then in the early days, the band were proving themselves to be a force to be reckoned with. The weak vocals did drag it down but the self-titled debut was actually one hell of a strong heavy metal album. With the voice of either Will Lowry-Scott or Josh Winnard on it we may have even had a top tier release from Dark Forest back then, as the Will Lowry-Scott voiced re-recording of The Wizard of Alderley Edge from the Defender (2009) EP was quick to prove. Will Lowry-Scott ultimately didn't stick around, but with Josh Winnard now fronting them Dark Forest have possible found their classic line-up.

I did not find the previous album The Awakening to be quite the equal of Dawn of Infinity, but with Beyond the Veil Dark Forest's new line-up seems more settled and their game has been upped again. Like most of the best newer traditional heavy metal bands/albums, Dark Forest doesn't actually have a pure heavy metal sound and I think that may be what is required these days to really make the music stand out – not because playing straight traditional heavy metal with no frills attached is no good any more, but because it makes the music stand out more from the hordes of imitators. I've always felt that Dark Forest's music was heavily steeped in influences from the New Wave of British Heavy Metal, but they have other elements to their music that gives them balance and allows them to shine. Power metal most of all have played a large role in their sound and that's more true than ever on Beyond the Veil, but it's still just there for flavour and while there are times where it takes charge of a track, such as Autumn's Crown, there aren't any doubts where Dark Forest's loyalties lie. The band are also very clever with their melodies, which seem steeped in their native English culture and heritage, something which I worry that listeners from elsewhere may not pick up on. They even add a bit of actual folk to some tracks, including the Beyond the Veil title track.

Hitting on a good sound is only half the battle though. The other half and where Dark Forest really excel is delivering the songs to go with it and even on an album as long as this one they never once drop the ball. Particular standouts for me are the opening trio of On the Edge of Twilight, Where the Arrow Falls and Autumn's Crown and later there is also The Wild Hunt, Earthbound, Beyond the Veil and of course that closing epic, The Lore of the Land. The only track that does feel comparatively unnecessary is the instrumental Mên-an-Tol, which is the only instance where anything on Beyond the Veil feels overlong. Still it's not bad either.

This album doesn't quite manage to usurp Dawn of Infinity as my favourite album by Dark Forest, but it does come pretty close all told, which makes it another must buy release from them, further confirming my belief that these guys are the best UK traditional metal band of the last decade. Which of course is why its such a shame that it seems that these guys are getting so overlooked within the current metal scene. Maybe that's because many of the classic acts are still going strong and still putting out quality work like Iron Maiden's The Book of Souls (2015), but that's no reason to ignore the new blood who are standing up for the traditional heavy metal values. Come on people, it's time to wake up to how good Dark Forest is.