Review: The Still Forest, Bathed In Mist by Enter The Soil

Following on from the release of Bleed This Earth's debut album earlier this year, multi-instrumentalist Justin Chorley has produced another record all of his own in the form of his long running solo project Enter The Soil. Utilising the same gloomy and depressive atmosphere that he developed with Bleed This Earth, The Still Forest, Bathed In Mist is a beautifully mournful album full of excellent ideas and musical concepts. Interestingly the record only has two tracks (the first and last) that even approach standard doom metal length; the tracks in between are shorter and more punchy than might be expected for a record in this style and it serves the record well to an extent. I do think, however, that some of the ideas here are a bit undersold and could have benefited from a little more development.

Opening track Darkness Within Your Reach is a staggering journey through the mire, jolting from desperately slow chugs to droning funeral doom riffs, the melodies folding like sheets of cold moss through the trudging rhythms. The vocals are cavernous, guttural and propulsive, maintaining the downward direction of the track across it's seven depressive minutes. Twisting, Turning, Ecstasy follows and kicks the tempo up a gear with some huge chugging riffs and rather Ahab-esque guitar melodies; there's even a moment of blast beats that rather subtlety punctuate the tempo. The final movement is an excellently crafted stop-start riff that keeps you on your aural toes while pushing you further into the depths with each run.

The Voices In The Trees acts almost as an interlude with some decidedly gothic clean vocals and matching guitar melodies that build a blanket of melancholy leading perfectly into Fear And Regret. This track starts off slow and withered with a sole guitar melody before suddenly running headlong into a huge wall of guitars and drums that sways forward into mass of atonal chugs and sorrowful melodies that push and pull you between them relentlessly. The Wait is another shorter interlude type track with some glistening tremolo guitar leads flying over jazzy chords and basslines. It's rather beautiful and feels like it could have been more than just an interlude; I think it could have been fascinating to hear this melodic idea blended into some death doom riffs.

The final track The Still Forest is less jagged that the opening track, but follows a similar pathway through huge waves of guitar riffs and cascading melodies, the drums emphasising every chord with an unremitting character. The track eventually breaks down into a quiet clean guitar passage that uses the silence between chords as a tool to craft a stunning atmosphere that you half expect to be ripped through by another typhoon of doom riffs, or if not to gradually build into a big flourishing finish of instrumentation. But it doesn't do either of these, instead it quietly drifts away into silence which, while quite nice in isolation, feels a little bit disappointing in the context of the whole.

There are some really intriguing moments in this record, some well crafted and quite unique riffs that stand apart from much of the usual early-Opeth inspired progressive death/doom fair. I would have loved to see some of these pushed a little further though, particularly The Wait which I think was far too good a melodic piece to not be taken deeper and the final movement of Twisting, Turning, Ecstasy that is absolutely fearless in it's use of sharp cuts and repetition. If there is one really distinct element to this record that I enjoyed it was the intelligent use of silence, something you don't often hear in metal, that really allowed the atmosphere to thrive and surround the listener. I really hope that Justin can further inhabit these fascinating ideas in future releases, because there is some remarkable potential within this record.


Listen to all of Enter The Soil's music on Bandcamp here


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