Forgotten Woods are Burzum clones for any of you who're unfamiliar with the band. Wait! Don't stop reading there. They're actually bloody good at what they do. Their previous disc was standard clone-fare, but this one is 200% on the first, drawing more from Burzum's 3rd and most eclectic release, "Det Som Engang Var". Everything reeks of Burzum. Its really quite remarkable.

That supposedly-inimitable transcendental flavour which Varg peppered his music is quite adequately replicated, and the musicianship is top notch. Although while Burzum was a one man band, FW is a five man band, even though all the writing is done by mainman, Olav, and its pretty obvious that he (with a bit of help from bassist, Rune) pulls ALL the strings.

Where FW do fare better than Burzum, is the fact that they do not insist on beefing the length of the CD up with that boring "trance" synth garbage which ruined Burzum's last album, "Filosofem", and to a lesser extent, "Hvis Lyset Tar Oss".

The tracks on offer are : "Overmotets Pris", "My Scars Hold Your Dreams", "The Starlit Waters/I, The Mountain", "With Swans I'll Share My Thirst", "Den Ansiktslose" and "The Velvet Room". I won't bother picking out highlight tracks, cos you've no doubt heard it all before.

And now that Varg is playing donut to a bunch of hardened criminals, we've got to rely on bands like Forgotten Woods to keep his "legacy" alive (smirk). Whatever their political stance, (I can't tell from the lyrics), Forgotten Woods are doing us Burzum fans a great service. Check it out.

RATING : 9/10, and 1/10 deduction for being clones, so ___8 out of 10____

© 1998 brett