CoC : Forest Stream - The Crown of Winter : Review

Forest Stream - _The Crown of Winter_
(Candlelight Records, 2009)
by: Jackie Smit (5 out of 10)

Sounding not too unlike every other gang of miseriguts who tried their hands at doom a decade ago after overdosing on _Turn Loose the Swans_, Forest Stream's latest is a pretty undercooked affair. They certainly have the act down: vocals shift between some fairly non-descript grunts, a male baritone and female caterwauling -- each of which are desperate to sound as forlorn as the riffs they're singing along to. Plenty of synth work adds to the morass of morbidity, and curiously the production makes each instrument sound detached from everything else that's going on -- which is just as well, since the melodies aren't exactly too engaging either. For some _The Crown of Winter_ could prove to be a return of a sub-genre thought banished to the backpages of the Nuclear Blast mail order catalogue. Personally, there's only so much derivative wallowing I can take before I'd seek out the style's originators.

Contact: http://www.myspace.com/foreststreamband

(article published 4/7/2009)

ALBUMS
14/10/2003	P Azevedo	8	Forest Stream - Tears of Mortal Solitude