Review by Denis on March 11, 2003.

A new band for me but "Fangorn" is actually the third album from Fangorn since their beginning in 1994. Recorded at the Digidirt Studio in Dresden (Germany) this release presents the end result of hard work from these talented musicians: Hardy and Grit on vocals, Robert on drums, Marten and Daniel sharing the guitar duties, Sylke on bass.

For a while, it seemed that all metal coming from Germany was power with high pitch male vocals. Well, I'm thrilled by this album since it's everything but that! There's some power stuff but forget the high pitch male thing. No instead you have a very interesting blend of just about any kind of metal with a combination of death male vocals vs. angelic female singer. A thrilling and tasty recording thus variety is the essence of Fangorn. You'll be unable to find two songs similar and by a very intelligent use of complex writing, no songs stay the same from beginning to end. Be on the lookout for frequent shifting in the mood and pace. Perfect vocals for the compositions are as changing as the songs require it so you'll get scary death, screams, spoken words, beautiful or haunting female vocals to accompany musical structures fluctuating from Death to Gothic or Doom, then Prog and at times some Power passages are also included. Looks like boredom was eradicated from these guys' musical dictionary!

Bottom Line: Truly an experience to be had by all!

Categorical Rating Breakdown

Musicianship: 8.5
Atmosphere: 9
Originality: 9
Production: 8.5
Overall: 8.5

Rating: 8.7 out of 10