Rating: 7/10
Release: 8 Septerber 2023
Label: AOP Records

Finsterforst is a six-member German folk metal band, and Jenseits (“Beyond”) is their eighth album and 3rd EP. There are two guest musicians who brought their voices and instruments into the booth, too. All-in-all, it’s a strange little beast: an EP-length single song divided into four chapters. They’re not known to shy away from ambitious projects like this, 2019’s album “Zerfall” had a whopping 89-minute runtime with 36 minutes devoted to a single track called “Ecce Homo”. Jenseits, though, is a fan-funded COVID project, and that changes the perspective a bit: the target audience is existing fans.

Listening to the album for the first time without knowing all this, I was confused. It’s an essay given in a sort of minor key darkened metal format with mainly clean vocals, and where harsh vocals are used, the lyrical meanings are still clear. There are a few cinematic and folk moments that keep the album moving forward, but they’re interspersed throughout. The whole album feels organic, like part of a solid. There’s a neat brassy, cinematic part to Dualität (“Duality”) eight minutes in, but I’m not going to tell readers “go there and check it out” because it doesn’t stand on its own.

Calling it an “essay” isn’t fair, either. It’s a stream of consciousness starting in a vibrant realm of unfettered creative freedom and democracy, taking some dark turns tackling vanity, insecurity, questions of self-worth, and ending on the struggle of freedom of action versus trying to find life’s meaning and purpose. I don’t speak German, but I like the concept.

The music itself is great. It’s atmospheric, cinematic in parts, folky with acoustic instruments in the third chapter. It’s sullen and powerful and wields some magic. The duduk is a new instrument to me, and I was excited the two times it entered a track. The accordion was also put to good use– folks usually associate it with jolly, frivolous music, but here it was a touch darker. It’s downright masterful how it was nudged a little further back in the mix.

My notes on each track are basically all the same. Reflexionen (“Reflections”), is a bit slower, more somber, and heavier on acoustic string instruments, but the other three chapters contain the full gamut of the Finsterforst offering: harsh and clean vocals, folk and electric instruments, epic track lengths, and a purposeful meandering between themes.  

Not knowing anything about the album’s origins or the band itself, I still enjoyed the EP, but knowing that it’s a crowdfunded COVID project for Finsterforst fans warms my heart a little and makes me appreciate it more.

Tracklist

1. Kapitel I – Freiheit
2. Kapitel II – Dualität
3. Kapitel III – Reflexionen
4. Kapitelen IV – Katharsis