The Forlorn is the first full length album of the Scandinavian band Ikuinen Kaamos (Finland). The history of this band goes back to 1997. In the previous century they released two demo’s, both mainly aimed at the underground black metal scene. Unfortunately, the success failed to materialize and they decided to split up. In 2003 the band was brought back to life, and they released another demo (So Rose the Dreadful Ghost; 2003) and a promo (The Lands of the Plague; 2004), followed by a record deal with a Dutch label called Descent Productions in 2005. So much for the history lesson.

The band changed their musical direction into metal with death, doom and progressive influences. The Forlorn is a concept album about an old man who murdered his wife and child decades ago. Now he struggles with his guilt. Ikuinen Kaamos puts down the angry and depressive atmosphere rather well, so if you are feeling depressed already, you probably don’t want to listen to this cd.

The album consists of 5 long tracks with quite a few mood changes, from beautiful acoustic guitar playing to extreme aggressive death metal.

I would consider the band as a wolf in sheep’s clothing. Listen to Frailty, a dreamy intro that suddenly changes into aggressive metal riffs with whipped up double bass drums, that then again returns to acoustic, followed by melodic metal riffs with the satanic grunts of Henri Villberg (this guy would frighten the devil himself). This song is very much representative for the other four songs. I think it is a pity there are almost no guitar solo’s in the songs; it surely would have made them even more emotional and more varied, especially with these long songs that take over 10 minutes.

The sound and production of The Forlorn are very good. So listen, shiver and enjoy this album. Especially dark metal fans will appreciate The Forlorn.