A Forest of Stars

[Atompunk]

Вот решил побаловать неформатовцев этим чудодейственным зельем на основе блэка. Основные действующие лица - малоизвестные для публики английские леди и джентльмэны. Хотя леди Катерина - Королева Призраков - с 2008-го года еще и клавишница My Dying Bride. По музыке - это депрессив блэк, чему свидетельство общая меланхолия песен и присутствие суицидального типа вокала, не буду цитировать рейджа) В домешек идут фолковые мотивчики благодаря флейте и скрипке, на которых играет все та же леди Катерина и не забываем про толику психеделии. Ах да, собрались наши аристократы в 2007-ом, альбом же вышел совсем недавно.

Interview with A Forest of Stars for Mortem Zine

1. Greetings! Firstly I want to ask you on your “Gentleman's Club.” What’s the idea behind this image of your band? You’re quite a young and unknown syndicate, so explaining this and introducing yourself will be a nice start of this interview.

The Gentleman: Greetings to you fine ma'am, and may I be the first to thank you most kindly for having us! "The Gentleman's Club" was formed to accumulate all activities ascribed to A Forest of Stars, be they musical, artistic, spiritual or otherwise. It comprises not only the four members, but several other persons who’ve provided exceptional services through friendship, deed or both. The Club was created by the four of us back in 1886, (though discussion between myself and the honourable Mr Curse can be traced back more than ten years) with the express intent of forging a spiritual, ritualistic power in the vein of our much admired contemporaries, such as Madame Blavatsky and her Theosophical Society, Anna Kingsford and Annie Besant or the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn to name but a few.

Mr T.S. Kettleburner: Myself and Katheryne chanced upon their work following my return from the The Ottoman Empire in 1884 (after concluding a quest to uncover the secrets of the Ashina clan and the frightening reality of its mythology). My return home was all but assured by 1883, as my more scientific leanings had become a detriment to this undertaking. This brought about a difficult realignment of priorities when we re-convened, but by late 1886, the work of our Club had become inescapably relevant to all its entities.

Lady Katheryne, Queen of the Ghosts: In late 1885, whilst holding my usual evening séance, I was visited by a most splendiferous messenger from the spirit world. It was he who suggested that I was to join my good friend Mr Kettleburner and the other gentlemen in their quest for a perfect marriage of spirituality and sound.

Mister Curse: I was found languishing in the gutters of Bradford some years previous by the dishonourable Gentleman, and press-ganged into testing the sinews of my mind and throat with intent towards birthing our eight-legged abomination against nature. We came together as if by chance but soon realised the diabolical design behind our corrupt copulations that would lead to the belching forth of our collective nightmares onto wax cylinders or somesuch.

2. Not so long time ago you’ve released a new album called "The Corpse of Rebirth". Honestly, it’s one of the most interesting materials of this quarter. You’re using untypical instruments to create rare compositions full of melodies and originality. If is the holding of listener’s interest one of your objectives, I think you are pretty successful in accomplishing it.

The Gentleman: I think I speak for all of us when I say thank you!

3. My opinion is, that your production shouldn’t be called as black metal. Your stylisation, artwork, all of your performance doesn’t has that "bad image" which black metal has. Otherwise I would call you as an avant-garde metal band. Nevertheless I found this on your myspace site as a description of your genre – "Victorian Psychedelic Occult Black Metal". Could you please explain to us it´s real sense?

Mr T.S. Kettleburner: The Corpse of Rebirth was created by four well-travelled experimentalists desperately (and not even remotely successfully, I might add) pursuing something that is completely undefined, uncategorised and shocking to the ears of the Citizens of the Commonwealth. We are bound to secrets held within these four walls and ask those listening to look upon this release as a product of unexplainable and to-be-forgotten techniques. To do so brings a state of mind that forces the listener to hopefully break away from their usual perceptions and explore the experience in a more liberated environ. By the same token the very definition of 'psychedelic' as I know it to be is: ‘An experience characterized by the perception of aspects of one's mind previously unknown, or by the creative exuberance of the mind liberated from its ostensibly ordinary fetters.’ It is this very property that I have always found genuinely engaging in the work of our greatest peers and masters.

Katheryne, Queen of the Ghosts: I believe that those same ghosts whose presence imparted darkness upon black metal have guided our musical workings through a similar, darkened forest.

The Gentleman: Many of the musicians I hold in high regard began in black metal bands, but quickly metamorphosed into something much more wondrous, while still holding onto those fantastical roots from whence they sprouted. Consequently, they became my greatest influence when we decided to form a band of our own, though not so much the music they created (though that obviously and unavoidably forms a large part), as their spirit and willingness to do something different, expand the boundaries of a genre, to keep it from resting on its laurels or going stale. Not that we managed this by a long stretch, but we can at least try. As to our label ‘Victorian Occult Psychedelic Black Metal’ - That is merely nothing more than a lazy way of summing up the four main elements in our band.

Mister Curse: My approach to 'black' metal has always been from a philosophical / ideological standpoint rather than a pre-prescribed sound or so-called aesthetic. Many of the bands I would describe as coming from a black angle would be derided (as would I) by the so-called elite. Profane them all.

4. I have to ask you on your possible live performing. If we kept in mind your unique style, your concerts would be really original costume shows full of bewitching atmosphere of Victorian era. Aren’t you thinking about something common or you’re gonna give priority to privacy?

The Gentleman: This is something we are most inclined to do, but will unfortunately take time to become a reality. Rest assured, visually, we have every intention of creating something equal to the music. Or at least we hope so. In the end, only the audience can decide whether it lives up to their expectations!

5. One hundred copies of your first album were sold out really quickly. Did you expected such success? Aren’t you planning a re-release of this album maybe on some more valuable format like the vinyl is? Releasing "The Corpse of Rebirth" by your own had to be very difficult business. Weren’t you thinking about signing in some label because of that?

Mr T.S. Kettleburner: Due to the non-autonomous and highly involved nature of the initial compact disc release, this is regrettably not a feasibly repeatable exercise. However, we have been approached by I Ex M N, hailing from France, to make a cassette version of the album. This is now available. The question on many lips will naturally be regarding another pressing of a compact disc and I can say that this is something we will be revealing soon.

The Gentleman: And if at all possible, I would love a vinyl release. The unfortunate fact of the matter is we had no idea if anyone would even be vaguely bothered by what we’d done at all, so the initial run of 100 was to test the water, as it were. Frankly we were stunned by the response and subsequent genuine enthusiasm of our humble project, to the extent we are now receiving requests daily for our work, and have nothing to offer in return.

6. Naturally I won’t miss out the question asking on your future works and plans. I hope, that it’s not too early to ask you about your upcoming album, so... What are you preparing next? Where do you want to make some progress in your compositions?

Mister Curse: We are currently in the throes of considering a split-recording with another band who I shan’t name for now, which if my nefarious little head has anything to do with it shall be as harsh as humanly possible, since recent events in my own life alone have given me rise to spit as much bile as I can muster in the collective face of humanity.

The Gentleman: Ahem. Well, quite. It’s too early for me to say what will be happening with regards to music, but there will definitely be another record, though perhaps not for a year or two, due to many insipid and platitudinous reasons. And our priority here and now is to make the current album more widely available.

7. You can be proud of original band name, band logo, names of the band members and I’m not speaking about your website. Also the 1st January of 1888 is described as a beginning of your history. How could an ordinary man orientate in the background of your "A Forest of Stars"? I guess, that you all are very interested in historical science.

The Gentleman: Well, as I stated earlier we actually formed prior to the aforementioned date – that was simply when we announced our intentions to the world, as it were. Personally I’ve always steeped myself in the past, and I suppose through active intention or otherwise, this has influenced the band to a greater or lesser degree. As for the listener, I’d say that based on the reactions to our music and manifesto (of sorts) they seem to have grasped our concept far better than we have ourselves and run with it! A Forest of Stars and its associated Gentleman’s Club will continue to update, transmute and spread further afield. We encourage people to read the numerous subject matters we endorse for themselves, make up their own minds and interpret what we do in a manner most fitting to their own point of view.

8. Could you please describe us the creating process in your band? Do you have some "brain of the band" or we could call it as a collective work? You are disposing with one of the sickest main vocals I ever heard. On the other hand, it’s well balanced with the sweet one of Lady Katheryne. What an accident brought together a quarterfoil of such skilful artists?

The Gentleman: It really just came into being. Which sounds like absolute nonsense, I grant you. All four of us contributed equally to the endeavour musically and conceptually, and will continue to do so.

Katheryne, Queen of the Ghosts: For me, one of the most important features of the creative process has been the equality of it all. We are kindred spirits and although not all of us were together for every stage of the recording, I would say that we all shared a vision of the sound we wished to create.

Mr T.S. Kettleburner: The important thing about our method of creation for me, is that we don’t over-analyse anything in either the writing or performance process (though, obviously, standards have to kept). It is an approach that both suits the Club and makes it possible for us to operate. The four of us have not been in the same room at the same time since the completion of The Corpse of Rebirth on Winter Solstice 1887, yet we all hold the same excitement in the knowledge that we will convene again as soon as the time is right.

Mister Curse: It had been my intention for more than fifteen years to create a record of dark heavy music, and the only thing halting the process was the need to find the right people to work with. Once the four of us came together there was no doubt that we had the correct mindsets collected to make such a recording work.

9. What’s the concept of "The Corpse of Rebirth" album? The compositions except the instrumental song "Earth and Matter" are mostly longer than 10 minutes. I guess you created them with some kind of story included. Also the lyrics looks like poetry. Who’s the author of them? We all would be really thankful if you’d explain it’s meaning to us.

Mister Curse: I was responsible for all the lyrics on the album, though i passed them to the others to ensure they were met with approval before use. As for the writing process, they are all streams of consciousness, some of which were edited later on, but most left in their original state. The lyrics deal with life and the occult metaphorically under the guise of seasons and celestial bodies, the impact of death and loss upon the human psyche, and the effect that recreational chemicals have on the whole resulting mess. The general concept can be summed up best by the lyric to 'Earth and Matter' which makes the point quite succinctly I believe.

The Gentleman: I feel it might be prudent to point out that 'Earth and Matter' is not actually an instrumental, you just have to look closer...

10. I suppose that you’ve been already thinking about possibility of extra-terrestrial life outside our planet, how does the stars look like from a closer distance or how does our mother earth look like from space. What´s your imaginations?

Mr T.S. Kettleburner: I don’t dwell on this subject, but what inspires a greater feeling of loneliness? Option 1: Having irrefutable knowledge that the universe is a cold, empty infinity and that the planet Earth is the sole bastion of biological creation? Or option 2: Knowing that life exists, but the time it would to take to interact, investigate and explore would see the life on each beacon rise and fall to nothingness? Imagine a level of knowledge we have where the search for life has become just a mapping exercise devoid of the wonderment it inspires for us, knowing no more than what is beamed back to us from unmanned satellites? I find that depressing, especially after all of the amazing and frightening eventualities that the human race has theorised through the means of science-fiction!

Katheryne, Queen of the Ghosts: In our world what is important is not the possibility of existence of other beings or worlds, but our willingness to accept it.

Mister Curse: The thought of an empty multiverse is one that holds no stock with me. The possibility that we semi-evolved monkeys are the only so-called intelligent life extant just doesn't wash.

11. I guess my fantasy in creating questions ran dry, so I want to thank you for this interview, wish you a lot of luck and a nice weather in these days, a plenty of creating moments and long continuation of A Forest of Stars. Be well!

The Gentleman: The pleasure was all ours, ma'am.

источник

[свернуть]

Инфлюэнсы на майспейсе:
Swans, Burzum, God Speed You! Black Emperor, Neptune Towers, Beyond Dawn, My Dying Bride, Blut Aus Nord, Arcturus, Deathspell Omega, Darkthrone, Shape оf Despair, Max Bruch, Ved Buens Ende..., Desiderii Marginis, Raison Detre, In the Woods..., Emperor, Negura Bunget, Devil Doll, Ulver, Enslaved, Current 93, Legendary Pink Dots, Corrupted, Neurosis, Shock Headed Peters, Karl Blake, Fields of the Nephilim, Coil, Mysticum, Children on Stun, Carcass, Solefald, Sopor Aeternus and the Ensemble of Shadows, Sigh, The 3rd and the Mortal, Arcana, The Ruins of Beverast, Monumentum, Skyclad, David E. Williams, Beherit, Shining.

Состав:
Mister Curse - вокал
Katheryne, Queen of the Ghosts - скрипка, флейта, вокал
The Gentleman - клавишные, ударные
Mr T.S. Kettleburner - гитара, бас, вокал

Дискография:
2008 - The Corpse of Rebirth (vbr v2 kbps)

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2010 - Opportunistic Thieves of Spring (320 kbps)

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офсайт / майспейс
2012 - A Shadowplay for Yesterdays

2015 - Beware the Sword You Cannot See


Красивый экспериментальный депрессив-блэк. И вы на инфлюэнсы посмотрите - чего там только нет, ну конечно же главное Свонс и Бурзум - это Вообще, дистортед крю - вы послушайте, и можем, в принципе, договориться, если захотите Звёздный Лес в свой раздел. Но предупреждаю, тут как бы не мрак ориентир. Психеделия и депрессия, но не мрак.

[varibobu]

А мне почему-то всегда слышался у них пост-блэк

[Atompunk]

Ну блин, в принципе пост-блэк сейчас во всех группах типа "блэк метал + экспериментал", в теги добавлю

[varibobu]

Ну пост-блэк - это просто очень удобное короткое определение для сложной смеси стилей, среди которых выделяется собственно блэк

[Atompunk]

varibobu, ты прав.

[varibobu]

Ах да, совсем забыл по сабжу отписаться
Группа крутая, в особенности то, что депрессив

[Atompunk]

О, я уже и ненадеялся)

[miguel]

Зашел в тему от нефиг делать, но увидел инфлюэнсы и решил скачать. Еще 25 минут и буду ценить..

[Прожектор]

да, инфлюэнсы решают. Суонз, гацпиды, брайды и Неврозис в моем случае сделали свое черное дело

[L'Angelica]

в последнее время до дыр заслушала...просто невероятные типы...ууу...

[мивина родео!]

А ну ща заценим шо за построк с бластбитами

[мивина родео!]

начало хорошее слушаю 5-ю минуту первого трэка.

Добавлено через 2 минуты
зачем он начал петь..

[Прожектор]

мивина родео!,

Сообщение от Prog-Jester

класс

пока слушаю первый трек. Могли бы и не петь, и так классно)))

Добавлено через 55 секунд
то нестрашно, потом привыкаешь, слушаешь фоном. Последние треки даже пиздатее первых
Блин, я их точно буду слушать ближайшие дни

[мивина родео!]

послушай Кауса Суи 2008 он обалденный)

[мивина родео!]

не, ребята, не моё :)

[Прожектор]

4 трек послушай, не спеши с выводами

[мивина родео!]

ну отвык я от бластбитов, ровных карданов и певцов такого рода)

[Прожектор]

у меня получилось абстрагироваться я слушал гитары и скрипку

[мивина родео!]

я не могу так

[Sun of a Beach]

У мене одразу питання - це схоже на Ameseurs? Тому що там звучання якраз дуже приємне, і блек вуха не ріже, я б подібне послухав.

[мивина родео!]

нау плэин - Ом - Пилигримэйдж

Добавлено через 31 секунду

Сообщение от Kobold

і блек вуха не ріже, я б подібне послухав.

Мне, видимо, порезал таки

[Sun of a Beach]

Сообщение от Репа

it's just a trick of the light

Ха-ха))) Хамелеонс

Добавлено через 1 минуту
мивина родео!, я б порадив ще оце, але там знову ж таки рапіда.

[Atompunk]

Сообщение от Prog-Jester

и форест оф старз качай не думая - это даже покруче Амэсорса с Альцестом

наконец-то) теперь все будут спрашивать в теме об очередной блэк-группе: "это похоже на Форест оф Старз???" А то уже надоело сравнивать с этими Альцестами.

[MoriTuri]

слухав мало, але люблю

[Vladislav]

Заинтриговали...

[Atompunk]

Сообщение от MoriTuri

слухав мало, але люблю

[MoriTuri]

блін, я навіть другий раз відпишуся, просто прекрасна музика, навіть в первиннгому сенсі цього слова

а якщо під настрій то взагалі

мм

[Sun of a Beach]

Так от, забув написати, група сподобалась. Западає в душу. Хоч вокал і відбирає у музики деяку атмосферність, але вцілому він її чимсь навіть прикрашає.

[Vladislav]

Красиво играют, интересно... Хорошая группа, но назвать их охренительными и сказать, шо они мне безумно понравилися, аж никак. Слышал группы, которые мне нравятся куда больше...)))

[beforeadream]

Ваши отзывы меня заинтриговали. Качаю.