Billing themselves as "The Gentleman's Club A FOREST OF STARS", you know this British group are a different breed of Black Metal. Featuring Katheryne Stone (who recently joined MY DYING BRIDE) and her violin as a driving force in the music, they opt for a sophisticated and intelligent take on a genre usually characterized by brutality and rawness.

The opening piece "God" starts out beautifully, with the extraordinarily melancholic violin taking the lead immediately. The riffs that follow are excellent, and are of the kind that gets stuck firmly in your subconsciousness. The Black Metal rawness shines through in the tortured wails of vocalist Mister Curse, who goes through the album crying, barking and shrieking like a possessed madman. In "Female" the violin takes a step into the background, while a cacophony of sound spins the song into something apocalyptic and fierce. Think WOLVES IN THE THRONE ROOM with a violinist, and you might get a slight idea of where they're coming from.

Haunting female vocals and a mellow bass-line opens "Male", before a spacey synth kicks in and elevates the song into the night-sky. This song is a lot more experimental than its predecessors, adding a psychedelic futuristic element that feels oddly out of place in this gentleman's club. The fourth track opens with a lovely cup of tea (yes, seriously), and then explodes into a rather bombastic piece of warfare reminiscent of what I imagine LEVIATHAN would sound like if Wrest was a posh British gentleman. Some acoustic guitars and tribal drums are then thrown into the mix for an extra spicy cup of tea. The final track again shows the band at their strongest, when the violin is allowed to shine prominently, and the tempo progressively evolves. This change of pace is another one of the band's strengths, they always seem to take on new shapes and expand their sound without compromising their uniqueness.

"The Corpse Of Rebirth" is an extraordinarily solid debut effort from this ensemble of gentlemen, expertly cementing their own sound without too many obvious influences. There are a few tired and flat moments, but these are more of an exception than a rule, heavily overwhelmed by the high points. With such a strong debut, the stars are the limit for this promising young band.

(Online October 3, 2009)
Ailo Ravna
Written for the Metal Observer