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/:: Artist :: Hate Forest ::\
:: Album :: Battlefields ::
:: Year :: 2021 ::
:: __ _ _ __ ::
-:--\\-----------------------------------------------------------------//--:-
:: \ / ::
:: . Genre :: Black Metal Source :: CDDA . ::
:: Label :: Black Metal Store R.date :: 05.05.2022 ::
_::__ Cat.nr. :: BMS034 Size :: 73,6 MB __::_
::// \\::
::/---------------------------------------------------------------------\::
:: ::
/: Encoder :: LAME 3.100 -V0 :\
..: Bitrate :: avg. 261kbps : .
. Quality :: 44,1kHz/Joint-Stereo .
. .
Website ::
__ __ _ . : _ ____ _ _ ____ _ : . _ __ __
.\\\\------- : | ---\ /---------------------\ /--- | : -------////.
+/ -\------- | | ----\ tracklist /---- | | -------/- \+
/: . : : . :\
/:: ::\
:: 01. U Nedilyu... 01:54 ::
:: 02. With Fire and Iron 09:14 ::
:: 03. Provedu Ya Rusalochku... 01:03 ::
:: 04. Our Fading Horizons 10:34 ::
:: 05. Kolyskova 01:57 ::
:: 06. Glare Over Slavonic Lands 10:20 ::
:: 07. Keening 02:46 ::
:: ------- ::
.. >> 37:48 min ..
__ __ _ . : _ ____ _ _ ____ _ : . _ __ __
.\\\\------- : | ---\ /---------------------\ /--- | : -------////.
+/ -\------- | | ----\ release notes /---- | | -------/- \+
/: . : : . :\
/:: ::\
:: ::
:: It's difficult to know what Hate Forest is singing about ::
:: because the band members have never released lyrics for at ::
:: least most of their songs. The band was associated with the ::
:: national socialist black metal movement, an association the ::
:: core band members themselves seem to regret these days: as ::
:: Drudkh, they released a statement explicitly disavowing all ::
:: radical politics, and they dissolved their projects ::
:: associated with NSBM (specifically, Hate Forest and ::
:: Astrofaes). ::
:: ::
:: In the case of Battlefields, though, it's not really ::
:: necessary to read the lyrics to know what this album is ::
:: about. The music itself tells the whole story, and it's a ::
:: hellish one indeed. ::
:: ::
:: The album opens with a folk song in Ukrainian, not ::
:: performed by the band. There are two additional folk songs ::
:: and one field recording of weeping women included on this ::
:: album; none of them are performed by Hate Forest. Native ::
:: Ukrainian speakers below me have already written overviews ::
:: of what these songs are about - one of them is a mother ::
:: cursing her son for leaving for war, one is about ::
:: witchcraft, and one is a lullaby. Not all of these are ::
:: thematically connected with the album's core concept, but ::
:: they are nonetheless integral to its message. The number of ::
:: vocalists on each successive folk song is, crucially, fewer ::
:: than the number of vocalists on the preceding folk song. ::
:: This cannot have been a coincidence: it serves as a ::
:: statement about how war whittles down the population. ::
:: ::
:: The band's three songs on this album, which are placed in ::
:: between the folk songs, are some of the bleakest black ::
:: metal that has ever been recorded. They are not actually ::
:: all that typical of the genre; as is usual for Hate Forest, ::
:: the vocals are the sort of hellish roar you'd expect out of ::
:: death metal, while this time around the material often ::
:: proceeds at a martial pace that bears unmistakable ::
:: influence from doom metal. The atmosphere, though, is the ::
:: sort of thing that one only generally gets from black ::
:: metal. It sounds like this music came straight out of ::
:: Mordor itself. ::
:: ::
:: Some listeners have claimed that the folk songs feel out of ::
:: place or that they disrupt the flow of the album. I ::
:: honestly don't understand this view, because they are ::
:: central to the album's core concept and they help to ::
:: provide a change of pace from the otherwise unrelenting ::
:: bleakness. Don't get me wrong; in the context of the album, ::
:: they are still tremendously bleak. However, thirty minutes ::
:: of plodding doom-influenced black metal would quickly ::
:: become a monotonous listen, especially after repeated ::
:: listening. I think Hate Forest made the right decision to ::
:: include the folk songs. ::
:: ::
:: After the album's three folk songs and three black metal ::
:: songs finish, the album closes with a field recording of ::
:: lamenting women. This has absolutely no musical qualities ::
:: whatsoever, and at some points it becomes painful to listen ::
:: to. Which is, of course, the whole point. It's difficult to ::
:: imagine how the album could have closed more powerfully. ::
:: After the battlefield has cleared, there is nothing else to ::
:: do but mourn. ::
:: ::
:: This album is a stunning meditation on an experience with ::
:: which Ukraine has had far too much familiarity over its ::
:: history. I get the feeling that I wouldn't agree with much ::
:: else about Hate Forest's politics, but it's difficult for ::
:: me to regard this recording as anything other than a ::
:: flawless work of art. ::
:: ::
:: . _ _ . ::
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