Release Date 31.07.2026
Format CD/LP/Digital
Genre Epic/Black Metal
Origin Germany
Finsterforst emerged from Germany in 2004 and have spent more than two decades shaping an unusually broad form of extreme metal. Their early folk and black metal roots expanded through epic arrangements, post-metal scale, orchestral colour and long compositions built around stark contrasts. The band calls this mixture black forest metal, a useful description for music tied to woodland imagery, regional character and dark grandeur. Finsterforst now operates as a seven-member band, with guitars, bass, drums, keyboards, accordion, several vocal approaches and layered choirs forming the core of their sound.
Across their discography, aggression and melancholy have shared equal space, joined by triumph, grief and solemn calm. The present lineup features Olli Berlin, Johannes Joseph, Simon Käflein, David Schuldis, Tobias Weinreich, Cornelius Heck and Sebastian Scherrer, bringing a wide range of voices and textures into the band’s large-scale compositions. That range makes Finsterforst difficult to reduce to one genre tag, since folk metal, atmospheric black metal and epic extreme metal meet inside the same musical language.
"Still" contains nine tracks approaching 78 minutes of playing time, making it a large album in every practical sense. The writing combines blackened riffing, acoustic detail, broad keyboard arrangements, orchestral layers and choral voices in compositions that rise, retreat and surge again. Produced at Iguana Studios with Christoph Brandes, the album presents those layers with depth and separation. Guitars remain firm during the heavier stretches, keyboards widen the surrounding space, and accordion adds regional colour without reducing the music to folk decoration.
The vocals move between rasped attacks, solemn singing and large choir parts, placing a human edge beneath the monumental scale, with the guest Black Forest choir expanding the communal character of several moments. Its lyrical atmosphere leans toward grief, anger, isolation and endurance, expressed through German-language material with a severe emotional tone. An album this long can test restraint, and a few ideas remain in circulation longer than necessary. The pacing recovers through decisive changes in tempo and texture, with quieter stretches preparing the next rise and maintaining intensity.
Two cover versions in Immortal’s “Beyond The North Waves” and Pink Floyd’s “Another Brick In The Wall Pt. II” close the release as an appendix after the main body, extending the running time without defining the album’s central character. Yaroslav Gerzhedovich’s artwork mirrors the bleak, towering character of the music, completing a presentation shaped with close attention from image to production. "Still" is ambitious, immersive and emotionally severe, with enough detail to reward repeated listens and enough power to justify most of its extended duration. Finsterforst has created an opus for focused listening, and its scope places it among the more substantial releases in their discography and the year’s of course.
|9.0
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