Old Forest are hailing from UK and have been formed in 1998 and this is their new sixth full length opus and it will be out with help of Death To Music Productions. There are eight songs on this one. Music of Old Forest plays is black metal but so much more. In its basis it is no holds barred black metal but has so much melody and atmosphere, only reminding me why I love this music genre so much. Expressing feelings and emotions, battling inner demons and aggression has always been vibe of black metal music. There are also pagan and folk black metal influences in the songwriting of Old Forest. Tyrant Spell begins with atmospheric buildup only to become folk black metal anthem combining superb clean singing and black metal screams with melodic guitar melancholy, mid tempo and doomy passages. The Anvils is nineties old school black metal song reminding me of old Emperor a lot, being complex yet catchy with that haunting guitar melody through the song. Despair Is My Name slows things down again to beautiful mid tempo soundscape backed with nice keyboard work to accompany guitars and vocals screamed and transforming easily to clean and back again. Red Sky In Mourning serves as a kind of intermezzo between two black metal storms. My Haunting Vision is one of my personal favorites, dream like song catching the vibe of nightmare and unease with doom parts, epic melody and clean singing. Solitude Apocalypse is for me the best song on this opus, listen and see if you agree. Shadows Immemorial and A Bitter End finish this album which is for sure one of the best black metal releases this year until now.

9/10