OLD FOREST - Into The Old Forest LP

Comprised of guitarist / bassist Beleth and vocalist / keyboardist Kobold, the duo set out to make cold, archaic black metal in the tradition of early Emperor, Darkthrone and other like-minded Norwegian arsonists.

Their 1998 demo "Of Mists and Graves” displayed a strong vision of what was to come, with a raw production befitting the gravelike atmosphere of the music. The group would follow up the next year with their first full-length “Into the Old Forest.”

A record of pure, undiluted black metal, the LP shows Old Forest realizing their full potential. A grim miasma hangs over its eight tracks, with lurching and forlorn melodicism coupled with vicious blasting and violent riffs. Kobold’s ornate keyboard work adds a layer of gothic horror to the whole affair, its sinister aura placing this alongside the high points of 90s black metal.

Old Forest would not release another record for nearly a decade, but this document places them in the pantheon of classic second-wave black metal.