As for a great many, Danish rockers Forever Still has been a persistently impressing pleasure through the release of songs and EPs since emerging with their debut release Breaking Free in 2013. Their sound is a virulent fusion of rousing intensity and seductive melodies fuelled by an emotional exploration unafraid to get into the darkest, disturbing corners of life. The last twelve or so months has seen the band working towards the release of their debut album; the release of two of the three EPs making up its strikingly impressive body ripe with the rich qualities which has drawn strong attention the way of the band. With the third offering in the trilogy making its first entrance as part of the new ten track adventure, Tied Down is one thrilling roar of melodic rock from a band destined to major things.
Hailing from Copenhagen, Forever Still revolves around the creative and songwriting union of vocalist Maja Schønning and multi-instrumentalist Mikkel Haastrup. As mentioned, the band first hit ears with their potent debut Breaking Free, subsequently breaching a broader expanse of attention with the following pair of Scars late 2014 and Save Me last April. Those two EPs were the first in the journey to create the band’s first album, the tracks within the two releases making up the first part of Tied Down with that final unreleased EP providing a quartet of new songs to explore and as it turns out, get equally gripped by.
Tied Down opens with the mighty roar and anthemic insistence of Scars which from the off is a pleasingly unpredictable and ferocious proposal. Additionally featuring Jens Berglid on drums and Dennis Post on guitar, the track immediately presents a grouchy and volatile incitement soaked in the gripping voice and delivery of Schønning. Even having devoured previous releases hungrily, her vocal prowess never fails to impress each and every time and especially shinning and exciting in the album opener backed by the equally dramatic tenacity of Haastrup. Continuing to create an enthralling web of spicy grooves, intensive energy, and a growling resourcefulness as potent as the raw emotion driving the song, the song makes for a formidable start to the album.
The pair of Once Upon A Nightmare and Miss Madness quickly and strongly back it up; the first of the two exploring a slightly mellower landscape but being no less imposing in its emotive flame amidst skilfully evocative textures. Post appears again as bass and guitar collude with a flavoursome electronic enterprise, Schønning standing magnetically astride the tempestuous melodies and dramatic climate escaping song and sound. Almost intrusively majestic, the thick and impassioned encounter makes way for its classically elegant, power balled seeded successor, the song a keys and vocal led beauty skilfully tempered but inflamed further by the moody bass and guitar suggestiveness of Haastrup and Anders Bo Jespersen.
Awake the Fire steps up next, instantly gripping ears and appetite with a tangy groove which in turn sparks an energetic swagger to a boisterous stroll of hefty rock ‘n’ roll cored by a great rolling rhythmic enticement. Post appears again alongside the craft of Haastrup, the pair stirring up air and ears with their almost toxic web of enterprise within a spicy tapestry of melodic incitement and bruising anthem building rhythms. Throughout the album it is easy to suggest Evanescence and Lacuna Coil as hints to what is overall the Forever Still uniqueness in sound, and here Poets Of the Fall also comes to mind briefly as a clue to the melody rich body of the song.
The following Breathe In leaps from a great electronic teasing into a more lively but controlled canter, that early pulsating coaxing still a pungent lure alongside the tempting tones of Schønning and around the tempestuous blazes of sound and energy which erupt to further reward ears. Those rugged squalls also lead to bracing moments of carnivorous aggression with Schønning and band flirting with an Otep like confrontation before the outstanding Save Me takes over. A striking mellow but expectantly inflamed seduction compared to the last song; it is also soaked in emotional turmoil with thunderous tempests of heart and intensity seeded in the poetic melodies and harmonies caressing the imagination. As all tracks, the kaleidoscope of emotion is open; melancholy and despair as ripe as loneliness and hope, love and darkness across Tied Down.
With Anders Bo Jespersen in addition, the first brand new song, Your Light, bounds from a sonic mist with muscular rhythms loaded with punchy beats and a raw edged line of riffs which spark spice heavy grooves and melodic drama. In no time attention and appetite are greedy, especially with the virulent prime hook which connects the calm and more climatic layers of the song. A quick want for more of the band’s new exploits is rife by its end and fed by Alone. Emotively intimate with its first breaths, epically cinematic in a few more, the track continues to impressively entwine both contrasts as an industrial air also invades the thick theatre and sonic beauty of the encounter; the outcome a metal bred Bond theme ready in the waiting.
Break The Glass boldly rumbles as it pulsates next, the bass offering a growling belly to a riveting blend of electronic and melodic expression soon walled by aggravated riffs and speared by whipping beats. Schønning owns the song, as all, from the first second, her tone and presence the puppeteer to the dancing piano crafted melodies and passion rich adventure shaping the increasingly thrilling temptation.
Tied Down is brought to a close by its title track; a song also revealing individual character through a weave of calmly reflective and rigorously forceful endeavour bred in increasingly inventive and infectious ingenuity. It is an epic close to a towering release which even with around half of it strongly familiar through the earlier EPs, makes a major impact reinforced by the creative might of the new tracks.
Forever Still is a giant in waiting with Tied Down the perfect key to force that lock.
Tied Down is available from January 15th through all stores and @ http://www.foreverstill.bigcartel.com/
http://foreverstill.dk/ https://www.facebook.com/Foreverstill https://twitter.com/foreverstilldk
Pete RingMaster 14/01/2016
Copyright RingMaster: MyFreeCopyright
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Awake the Fire opens up the release and instantly grips the imagination with its initial tangy grooving. It is irresistible bait continuing intermittently across the song, holding its own against bulging rhythms and hungry riffs unleashed by the band. Once the ever compelling voice of Schønning takes ears in her potent hands, drums seem to elevate in boldness and intensity whilst the guitars cast a sonic tapestry as spicily aggressive as it is virulently imaginative. There feels like there is a new confidence within the song, indeed EP, compared to the band’s previous and seriously impressive offerings, every element of the song from writing to sound bearing a creative swagger and almost volatile passion. The track is a masterful roar of melodic and heavy rock, alone ensuring any old references to bands like Evanescence and Lacuna Coil are now redundant. Forever Still has evolved into something wholly unique, a fact quickly reinforced by the second song on the EP.
The EP opens with the spellbinding Black Rose, a song which instantly has ears and imagination involved through the evocative keys of Platon, and increasingly seduced by the siren-esque tones of Hansson emulated in potency by those of Ferhm. Rhythmically the song is reserved yet striking enough to support the expressive narrative of vocals and piano as they colour the song with feisty elegance. It is a catchy and welcoming start to the release matched by the contrasting shadow wrapped presence of Deception which follows. Led by the mellow yet angst lined tones of Ferhm, the song cradles ears and thoughts in a provocative embrace of emotional balladry. The drums of Sandberg create a brooding drama behind the core refection of voice and piano, an almost epic shadow aided by the equally haunted lure of Jönsson’s bass, whilst all combined leaves attention and pleasure easily entranced.
The chilled winds of My Enemy embrace ears first, accompanied by a vocal narrative of gothic fairy tale breeding. The song gradually brews up a melodic tempting around them, the provocative guitar and keys shaped imagination of Farlight draping the brooding rhythmic frame sculpted by drummer Alex Stowe and bassist Emmanuel. It is a tantalising proposal swiftly accentuated by the siren-esque expression and tones of Mary Red Mallow, her voice an inviting romance in the darker atmosphere of the music. There is more to the encounter than a gothic and dark rock proposal though, an electronic enterprise blossoming across the enjoyable start to the EP and providing the track with a flourish in its climax.
grooves, an essence which colours the whole song which also slips into something more reserved for the start of Walker’s vocals. Its catchiness is never far from the surface though especially with the bouncy beats of drummer Roman Drummond and dark basslines of Lloyd Entwistle making sure feet and thoughts are easily engaged across the song’s vibrant presence.
riffs and sonic enterprise cast by guitarists Mark Holden and Jane Hebenton, the latter’s twin Helen providing dark portentous shadows with her brooding basslines to the mix. It is a masterfully magnetic entrance to song and release, which as it grows and brews in intensity, continues the charm offensive through the excellent mellow tones of Tom Buxton. Finally settling into a firm and contagious stride, as guitars and vocals spread evocative and harmony soaked expression respectively, the song almost growls in creative contentment and melodic temptation. It is an enthralling encounter which just gains in strength and depth over time.