Fangorn
S/T
6.4
I have had a bad week. I suffered my 37th motherfucking birthday and found out my semi-estranged father had gone into the hospital with dead kidneys two weeks ago and no one knew. I was certainly prepared to hate something this week, and just the act of naming your band after a literary device was more than enough to get me going. I put the CD in the stereo and had already written a three page diatribe in my head. I was slavering for the blood of artists. I could almost taste their filthy pretentious flesh... One thing that has sustained me in my pathetic little life is the idea that I am a slave only to my own integrity. Is this true? I doubt it, but the illusion runs deep and effects my decisions and perceptions. And the simple fact is I don't hate Fangorn. In fact, it's fairly good. As with my other review of this week, NCO, the band rewards you with rhythmic changes and odd time signatures, but delivers these in the context of headbanging, meaty guitar driven epics. This band has decided to include a tenor female operatic vocalist. I don't know where this idea originated. I know Cradle of Filth uses them, but their vocals are normally all over the place anyway, so adding even stranger vocal textures seems appropriate. For most bands, however, the clean, whiney wishy washy sound of these singers - no doubt very talented in the proper context - does little more than illicit a groan from me. This band is not really an exception. The incongruous vocals sometimes find a niche, but mainly sound forced and trite. And, oddly, off key. Another thing I noticed...sometimes the time signatures sound not so much like part of a given song as a fuck up in the production. It's an illusion, I believe, but it's there. Things are charging along fine, and then the band will try a changeup beat, halting the measure prematurely. Lots of bands do this, but when Fangorn does it, it sometimes sounds like a mess; a mistake, like they actually lost track of the timing. It's disconcerting and makes you second guess the music. Despite these two somewhat major drawbacks, the band writes compelling music and performs it with flair and personality. It doesn't overcome the quirks completely, but it still can be a satisfying listen. And as I said, sometimes the clean female vocalist finds her place in the song and really does add something. The production is a bit hit or miss, as things tend to get a bit jumbled from time to time. Also, with headphones I was able to pick out edits. Annoying. Overall the sound is relatively powerful. It's all sung in German so you aren't troubled by mangled English or silly lyrics...unless you are German I guess. The musicianship is tough to judge fairly for the reasons stated above. I just can't really tell if they are doing something tricky or just losing their place. Considering the rest of the music, I am leaning toward the former, but if they are doing it purposely, they need to get an engineer who can capture the intent better. Bottom line: I spent a lot of my review pointing out negatives, but the positives are there and they are worth looking at. These are good songs, and they are mainly well performed. I could live without the female vocals, but then I seem to be living with them, so whatever. I wanted to hate this CD, and I didn't. That may be the main thing to remember. I would recommend it - with strong reservations - to my metalheaded peers, and I will listen to it again, occasionally.
