Forgjord - TIE, TOTUUS & KUOLEMA CD

WEREWOLF RECORDS is proud to present a special compilation from FORGJORD titled Tie, Totuus & Kuolema.For years one of Finnish black metal's best-kept secrets, in recent times have FORGJORD sprung to prominence among the adventurous as practitioners of a strangely alluring sort of obsidian. Although existing since the mid '90s and patiently parceling out their recordings in an almost-clandestine manner, the upswing in activity began with FORGJORD's third album (and first with WEREWOLF), Uhripuu, in 2017 and was followed by the equally challenging Ilmestykset in 2019, the comparatively more rockin' Laulu kuolemasta a year later, and the draw-everything together Ruumissaarna Pt. 1 in 2022. Among those four full-lengths, the Finnish trio solidified and strengthened their strident aesthetic - malodorous melodicism, hypnotically rendered through a ripped-raw soundfield, making their strangely hummable ruminations on triumph & tragedy sound all the more alien, each album unified yet unique within that aesthetic - and made it all seem effortless. Finally, it seemed that the name FORGJORD was no longer a "secret."No better time, then, to exhume the graves of the past with Tie, Totuus & Kuolema. While newcomers to the band's sound might find this collection of recordings from over 20 years ago a bit caustic and crude comparative to their most recent work, the seven songs presented on this special compilation indeed underline that FORGJORD's aesthetic was firm from the very beginning; it only took time to become more harnessed - and, arguably, weirder. Taken as a totality, Tie, Totuus & Kuolema works as both stark contrast and counterpoint, both embellishment of and the very original issue.