Review by Alex on April 25, 2020.

Since being birthed by one Nightwolf, the Australian solo black metal project of Runespell has managed 3 full length albums. The project's latest, Voice of Opprobrium proved to be the best Nightwolf has done since creating material for it. His mixture of black metal with what some term as green metal has been praiseworthy given it has achieved an ideal balance between a startling atmospheric beauty (nature inspired) and the usual black metal mannerisms. The lo-fi drumming, guitars rooted in the second wave of black metal and vocal echoes of Nightwolf have brought the entity much recognition, so much that it garnered the support of Iron Bonehead Records and landed Runespell in a slot on the prestigious label.

Forest Mysticism on the other hand, I have not too much knowledge of and can only briefly recall a split release with Krypta Nicestwa titled "Mirrors of Glaciated Earth" sometime in 2019. One could appreciate what was being done between the two bands on that EP, signaling greater things to manifest from Krypta Nicestwa and more specifically, Forest Mysticism in this context.

Fate has guided the bands to cross paths and now as a collaborative effort, they have wed into a thing of fascination, a split EP, Wandering Forlorn. Just by the name you could already know what to expect having been acquainted with both bands' music in the past and how their releases share admiration and awe for the face of nature and all things natural. Alongside the green, cometh their black, through their occult coverage and expressed feelings of conflict and grief that'd mold Wandering Forlorn into a tome of sorts, an eternal piece of evidence of both bands' effect on the black metal soundscapes.

Behold!, a scenery of eye blinding beauty and danger, split into 6 pieces, these two projects work together in preparing a uniform result of black metal. Runespell's lo-fi production on the snare returns, Nightwolf's vocals still sit somewhere between black metal howls and death metal growls and his riffing remains exceeds the rest of his past work. I would also add that with each album, Nightwolf's songwriting becomes stronger and its evident on Wandering Forlorn the way all instrumental notes sewn into each other.

Runespell opens the album in typical fashion with an ambient welcome before the melodies of 'Wolfwoods' take shape. Excelling early-on at painting vast and lush landscapes, all the while a fatiguing melancholy stirs, Runespell dims the colors a bit with some grey tones on 'Streams of Sorrow' that I would say is one of Nightwolf's best interludes ever composed. To a degree this introduces the record to a more tranquil state that lays a warm, yet damp sheeting atop the landscape for 'Fated in Blood' to act upon; almost like casting a shadowy sky over a battlefield before the clash of steel erupts. These three songs herald around each other to give a real impression of connectivity and/conceptualization. Runespell completes its respective contribution to the split comprehensively, leaving open the door and path for Forest Mysticism to walk.

The remainder of the work now layeth upon the shoulders of D. and knowing of his capabilities exhibited prior to this split with Runespell, he does not disappoint as the motion of the album continues as though no break or change had been introduced to Wandering Forlorn. 'Summon' continues in striking 2nd wave black metal formation with a gentle sweep of atmosphere via the keyboards vacillating above the tremolo trance. This would later take a brief departure on 'Rivers of Silver (II)' and return after the challenge of sorts ensued through Forest Mysticism's own acoustic intermission exposing depth and character on his side of the project. In closing, 'Ancient Tides of War' arises and plays in conquering fashion while keeping a bit of melancholy nearby.

Wandering Forlorn is an exercise of Runespell's and Forest Mysticism's musical gifts, taking them to new heights on this majestic manuscript.

Rating: 8.8 out of 10

Review by Alex on April 25, 2020.

Since being birthed by one Nightwolf, the Australian solo black metal project of Runespell has managed 3 full length albums. The project's latest, Voice of Opprobrium proved to be the best Nightwolf has done since creating material for it. His mixture of black metal with what some term as green metal has been praiseworthy given it has achieved an ideal balance between a startling atmospheric beauty (nature inspired) and the usual black metal mannerisms. The lo-fi drumming, guitars rooted in the second wave of black metal and vocal echoes of Nightwolf have brought the entity much recognition, so much that it garnered the support of Iron Bonehead Records and landed Runespell in a slot on the prestigious label.

Forest Mysticism on the other hand, I have not too much knowledge of and can only briefly recall a split release with Krypta Nicestwa titled "Mirrors of Glaciated Earth" sometime in 2019. One could appreciate what was being done between the two bands on that EP, signaling greater things to manifest from Krypta Nicestwa and more specifically, Forest Mysticism in this context.

Fate has guided the bands to cross paths and now as a collaborative effort, they have wed into a thing of fascination, a split EP, Wandering Forlorn. Just by the name you could already know what to expect having been acquainted with both bands' music in the past and how their releases share admiration and awe for the face of nature and all things natural. Alongside the green, cometh their black, through their occult coverage and expressed feelings of conflict and grief that'd mold Wandering Forlorn into a tome of sorts, an eternal piece of evidence of both bands' effect on the black metal soundscapes.

Behold!, a scenery of eye blinding beauty and danger, split into 6 pieces, these two projects work together in preparing a uniform result of black metal. Runespell's lo-fi production on the snare returns, Nightwolf's vocals still sit somewhere between black metal howls and death metal growls and his riffing remains exceeds the rest of his past work. I would also add that with each album, Nightwolf's songwriting becomes stronger and its evident on Wandering Forlorn the way all instrumental notes sewn into each other.

Runespell opens the album in typical fashion with an ambient welcome before the melodies of 'Wolfwoods' take shape. Excelling early-on at painting vast and lush landscapes, all the while a fatiguing melancholy stirs, Runespell dims the colors a bit with some grey tones on 'Streams of Sorrow' that I would say is one of Nightwolf's best interludes ever composed. To a degree this introduces the record to a more tranquil state that lays a warm, yet damp sheeting atop the landscape for 'Fated in Blood' to act upon; almost like casting a shadowy sky over a battlefield before the clash of steel erupts. These three songs herald around each other to give a real impression of connectivity and/conceptualization. Runespell completes its respective contribution to the split comprehensively, leaving open the door and path for Forest Mysticism to walk.

The remainder of the work now layeth upon the shoulders of D. and knowing of his capabilities exhibited prior to this split with Runespell, he does not disappoint as the motion of the album continues as though no break or change had been introduced to Wandering Forlorn. 'Summon' continues in striking 2nd wave black metal formation with a gentle sweep of atmosphere via the keyboards vacillating above the tremolo trance. This would later take a brief departure on 'Rivers of Silver (II)' and return after the challenge of sorts ensued through Forest Mysticism's own acoustic intermission exposing depth and character on his side of the project. In closing, 'Ancient Tides of War' arises and plays in conquering fashion while keeping a bit of melancholy nearby.

Wandering Forlorn is an exercise of Runespell's and Forest Mysticism's musical gifts, taking them to new heights on this majestic manuscript.

Rating: 8.8 out of 10

Review by Carl on September 2, 2020.

I remember the hype surrounding this album before it was released, it was touted as being the release that would usher in the renaissance of thrash metal. It was going to be the album that was going to go up there with the likes of "Reign in Blood", "Darkness Descends" (hence the title probably) and "Ride the Lightning". When it was released and I finally got to hear it, I wasn't thinking of any of those classics, no, all that this brought to my mind was the old Public Enemy classic "Don't Believe the Hype", and I'm not talking music here.

To be fair to them, the second track 'Don't Need a Reason to Hate' is a decent thrash metal banger with some pretty raucous riffing and neat percussive work, but after this one the party's mostly over. As the band switches over to their style of metalcore with groove metal influences the tempo takes a nose dive too, with the band working through a set of coma-inducing almost-songs that do nothing but go from mid-tempo yawn fests to breakdown and back again. Perhaps that this would have done way better in the period of 96 - 99 but then again, bands like Pissing Razors, Torque and Hostility have done this way more convincing. In 'Bear the Scars' the band pick up the pace again but even then the song peters out into another mid tempo dirge. Throughout I hear NYHC influences popping up in the music and the vocals, bringing to mind bands like Madball or 25 ta Life, except they do it better than Stampin' Ground. And speaking of the vocals: they are nothing out of the ordinary either, just your generic metalcore bark that recalls vocalists in the line of Karl from Earth Crisis with some hints of Agnostic Front's Roger Miret in execution. There are some occasional faster parts and thrash riffs here and there but they don't change the fact that this album is a pretty generic and boring metalcore record. This fact is not helped either by the squeaky clean, sterile production job.

It was probably very unfortunate for the band that in the previous years we had thrash bands that had their shit together way better than Stampin' Ground, just think of stuff like Darkane's "Rusted Angel", Hypnosia's "Extreme Hatred" or Dead Head's "Kill Division". Even oldies like Sodom and Agent Steel dropped way more memorable stuff than this in the form of "Code Red" and "Omega Conspiracy". Compared to the releases mentioned, A New Darkness upon Us is just bland and boring and utterly forgettable at that. Even if you look at it as a strict metalcore release this still sucks big fat donkey balls. Bands like Belgium's Liar, Congress and Regression did this waaaay better.

Just leave this for what it is and better check out Stampin' Ground's An Expression of Repressed Violence, where they offer up ballsy metalcore but without the pretension of being a thrash metal band. Suits them a lot better.

Rating: 3.5 out of 10

Review by Adam on March 6, 2004.

Stampin' Ground is your basic riff-based hardcore metal band and what is offered on "A New Darkness Upon Us" is nothing short of predictable and lackluster.

The vocals don't stray from the usual macho man bark and become increasingly annoying with each song. This is throw down pit music after all and the rest of the instruments follow accordingly. Andy Sneap's production is crystal clear which shouldn't be a big surprise to anyone. However, just because it sounds good does not mean that it is anything special. I am normally someone who can deal with over-saturation in metal to a certain extent, but as far as hardcore metal goes, I am slightly less tolerant.

If you are a hardcore metal fan, then I am sure you will dig "A New Darkness Upon Us." Stampin' Ground has the sound of a good live band, but on record, they fall short of any kind of glory. As it goes on, the monotony increases until it is almost unbearable. The songs themselves lack any individuality but for the genre I expected that. "A New Darkness Upon Us" may sound good but it doesn't contain anything that hasn't been done already. I'm not impressed.

Categorical Rating Breakdown

Musicianship: 6
Atmosphere: 7
Production: 9
Originality: 2
Overall: 4

Rating: 5.6 out of 10