England’s Dark Forest are well-versed masters of old Albion and have a deep connection, their material often delves into dear old England’s historical past. This, their fifth, and longest break between recordings, was partially written, then founder, songwriter and guitarist Christian Horton discovered the text entitled “Puck of Pook’s Hill”, a 1906 fantasy by Rudyard Kipling. This formed inspiration through its powerful description of England’s history, from the point of view of people who have shaped history. The critical element related to Dark Forest was the magic and folklore. This proved to be perfect material to inspire further Dark Forest tales and that has turned out to be a very wise decision.

Musically, the melodic guitars, a twin attack coupled with thoughtful arrangements manages to portray the story of the lyrics and augment the feeling of the story that accompanies each tune. ‘Wayfarer’s Eve’ starts epic, then develops into what I call the trademark Dark Forest gallops and melodies from the guitars. The vocal begins quite low, aha, then we hit to big money notes. The energy is much like earlier releases. ‘Eadric’s Return’ is a harder slab of metal in the delivery. Those majestic galloping chords complimented with brilliant twin guitar harmonies. As I have mentioned the guitar work, I wanted to highlight ‘The Heart of the Rose’ that closes the album. The riffs, the solos, yep, clear as crystal talented, I like the subtle addition of the keyboards, that give the track personal character. ‘The Midnight Folk’ will be a great live track, there is an opportunity for sing along during the chorus, I don’t think I’ve heard that before from Dark Forest. The play on vocal melody and those (mentioned many times already) gallops of the rhythm section put a smile on your face. I like the section breaks also, the whole song structure has many facets, many characters, all of which fit into the overall song structure.

‘Relics’ and its intro has been worked upon, there’s double tracking and foundation building, setting the scene. When you get to the verse, listen out for the effect pedal augmented acoustic guitar added to the mix. The chorus reminds me of many others (I don’t want to list a load of bands!), but if you take the strength of arrangements that Maiden had on ‘Seventh Son’, then the chaps in Dark Forest have also brought themselves into this realm in terms of song writing. There is so much going on; you need to listen behind the main structure. Again, this is effortless, melodic and very catchy. Overall, the vocals have remained a little lower in their stance. On their previous effort, this was right out in front. For ‘Oak, Ash & Thorn’ the songs are doing to the talking, prudent use of studio time has resulted in such gems that we have the pleasure to hear. When you get to the album’s title track, and it is over 11 minutes long, you get a well-versed and well musically executed tale, based on the readings mentioned earlier.

I found with my first listen of ‘Oak, Ash & Thorn’, I was too critical, I was trying to find fault, but that’s a bit silly when you have Dark Forest to deal with. Therefore, in summary, it is awesome! I still say these are unique English recordings, made special with the quality of the story and depth of lyrical content. The band never fail to impress. You should know this by now though!

(9/10 Paul Maddison)

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