Thursday, 18 July 2019

Forrest - Final Frontier (EP Review)


Release date: July 17th 2019. Label: Self Released. Format: CD/DD

Final Frontier – Tracklisting

Bubba
To Lose A Whale
The Final Frontier (Dan II)
The Intensity Of Frenchness
Specialman
Vacation (... Don't Ever Come Back)

Members

Riley Logan - Lead Guitar
Josh Summerville - Drums
Charlie Overman - Rhythm Guitar/Synthesizer
Jared McIntyre - Bass


Review

Instrumental Doom/Post-Sludge Rockers Forrest new EP – Final Frontier – is a mixture of different sounds within the Doom, Sludge and Post-Rock fields. The band add a casual Psychedelic Rock swagger to their music and it makes for an intriguing and heavy rock experience. The band aren’t exactly Doom, Sludge or Post-Metal but somewhere in between those styles of music.

Opening song – Bubba – is a fast-paced sounding affair with Forrest playing a loud mix of Psych Rock, Space Rock and Sludge driven Post-Rock. The song is quite delicate at the start before the band start playing a heavier and direct sound that allows the band to slowly start playing a more threatening groove. Bubba can be very progressive places and it shows you how Forrest like to add an air of mystery to their overall sound.

Second song – To Lose A Whale – opens with a heavy Post-Doom sound with the band adding elements of Drone Metal for a more experimental and almost “Jazz” style delivery. It’s quite a clever sound but it may test some people’s patience when the heavy riffs disappear for a subtle Post-Rock atmosphere. I did enjoy the creativity of this song more than the actual journey. However, that’s a good thing as Forrest take you out of your comfort zone on this EP.

Third song – The Final Frontier (Dan II) – carries on the experimental “Jazz” inspired sound with slow-paced elements of Psych Rock making their way into the groove. This is the longest song on the EP running past the seven-minute mark and Forrest have more time to play with. The best part of the song is when the “standard” Doom/Sludge Metal riffs appear.

The second half of the EP sees Forrest go even crazier with the experimental sounds but at least they settle down to play a heavier style of Doom/Sludge/Post-Metal and some of the heaviest and finest moments on the EP are most definitely on the second half of the EP. Songs such as The Intensity Of Frenchness and Specialman are perhaps the standout songs on the EP and deserve a special mention.

Final Frontier is a very good EP though the overall production can be too low and raw at times. However, if you’re in the mood for a different style of Instrumental Rock/Metal then you should give Final Frontier a listen as Forrest offer their style of music that you don’t really hear nowadays.

Words by Steve Howe

Links

Facebook - Bandcamp