Förfallet – VE (Recommendation)

Some bands have a special meaning for me, since they were among the first I reviewed for this blog. For Förfallet and their first EP this rings true. In 2020 it was even in my personal Top 10 so I was pleasantly surprised that they released something new.

Four years later, VE (Swedish for agony) is the long awaited debut of Förfallet. Like a cliff that has been withered by the weather, Förfallet vision of Post-Black Metal has been developed. 5 big, sharp but fascinating to look at, formations have been formed in this years.

What struck me the most was the sound of the drums on VE. You can already hear it on “Obotlig” but on “Ruinerma” those hits like waves against the mentioned cliffs. Apart from the drums the whole record just sounds awesome. Some bands dial up the CVLT-factor and sound bad on purpose but this is not the case here. Instead of roughing their songs up they chose to polish their vision and succeeded in a glorious way.

VE is best to be digested in one sitting. It is very homogenous and has the ability to drown your surroundings with its own version of noise-cancelling. Förfallet achieved to improve on their already great sense of melody and arrangement. VE should be in anybody’s list of “who to follow” in the Post-Black Metal genre.