Warthur Carpathian Forest's debut album is mostly competently executed but creatively bog standard black metal, aside from the atmospheric cover version of The Cure's A Forest that is appended to some versions - then again, that is such a good song that it'd be difficult to screw it up. It's a shame, because I reckon they're onto something with the fusion of second wave black metal and classic first wave gothic rock they present on that track, but eh, it's still fun anyway. I'll say this just about makes the three star mark by the skin of its teeth, but a full star there is for A Forest, and fundamentally that take is enjoyable more because it reminds me of the classic original version than for anything Carpathian Forest add to it.

Kingcrimsonprog I have to admit, that I am not a fan of true Black Metal or what critics call symphonic black metal… however, this album is a magnificent piece of work that fans of any extreme music should celebrate. Forget church burning, satanism, neo-nazis and other things inevitably associated with black metal, and listen to the music.

The production, for Black Metal is brilliant. The vocals are as vicious and raw as one should expect, sometimes putting the likes of Attila, Isham or Secthdaemon to shame. The guitars are compellingly cold and cynical while still thrashy and sharp enough in places to appease all sorts from fans of Deicide to Dimmu Borgir. The bass is often hard to make out; but when you can, it provides the same harsh effect as the guitars and when you can’t serves as a thickener, making the music richer in texture. The drummer is admittedly not the best the genre has to offer, but if you like blast beats and speed there’s not a thing wrong with him and fits well with the rest of the band.

Most of the songs are as raw and hateful as Slayer, but as well crafted and operatic as Cradle of Filth. Songs like the eerie ‘House On The Haunted Hill’ are quite different, more laid back and trippy , but equally as compelling.

If you scoff at the thought of new black metal, or can only appreciate band’s first albums then this may not be for you. But to those of you with an open mind, I urge you to buy this album and you will not be disappointed, this truly is one of the best heavy albums there is.

Kingcrimsonprog Carpathian Forest’s 2004 We’re Going To Hollywood For This-Live Perversions DVD (the title being a play on the title of their compilation album We’re Going to Hell for This) is a fairly extensive and interesting release from the Norwegian black metal band Carpathian Forest.

The main feature, a 19 track (15 of which are proper songs) indoor concert is where you will find the meat of the set. This is very professionally filmed and recorded set, with very good sound, camera work and editing. The recording quality and sound mix are superb, both in stereo and in 5.1.

The set list is fairly balanced and represented, and seamlessly mixes (at the time) newer material with the older classics well, blending their punkier side, their symphonic side and their straight up metal side rather well indeed.

The band play on a large stage with great lighting, occasional smoke and pyro, banners in front of a sizeable and enthusiastic crowd. Their own actual performance is pretty much flawless, and visually impressive (as long as you don’t mind their obese bass player playing in a thong and the intermittent appearance of two overweight middle aged strippers.) The overall quality of the show is really high considering the size of Carpathian forest and puts the DVDs of many larger bands to shame.

Additionally; there is a less professional but welcome additional live outdoor set from Wacken Open Air Festival 2003, featuring eight tracks that is definitely worth a few viewings.

The extras include a five minute interview with Nattlefrost and the dancers, an amusingly written text based biography, all sorts of image gallerys (now defunct with the invention of wikipedia and google images) and even the option just to view their logo on screen because, you know… that’s important !?

Additionally; as well as all the video content there is a whole host of audio content on the DVD. There are eight bonus audio tracks from demos ranging as far back as 1999, the track listing is ‘Nostalgia,’ ‘Pierced Genitalia,’ ‘Third Attempt,’ ‘The Swordsmen,’ ‘Dodsangst,’ ‘Black Shining Leather,’ ‘The Northern Hemisphere,’ and ‘Mask Of The Slave.’

This demo content is featured in special audio menus, as well as a live audio rendition of ‘He’s Turning Blue,’ and Pre-Production demos of six tracks from their excellent Defending The Throne Of Evil album, and even two tracks from their precursor band Grimm (from 1993) and finally World Destroyer 2000 which features three band members.

Overall, We’re Going To Hollywood For This is an incredible all-stops-pulled-out kind of release, that every Carpathian Forest fan should own and which would serve as a perfect introduction to the band, their various musical styles, attitude and particular sense of humour. It is packed full of additional content and the main concert is of a very high standard indeed, I highly recommend anyone with an interest in the band to pick up a copy.

DefeatedWorld Carpahian Forest is one of few faithful bands to the Black Metal underground of Norway, and one of few bands that his faithful line continues supporting to his kind.

The guitars are brutally fasters, intense and memorable that do the notable songs. Drums with blast beast and paces thrashers with a considerable speed. The bass one adds body to the topics and a sensation of heaviness. Nattefrost continues being illuminated by his voice, impudent and atypical, making him one of the best vocalists of Norway in the Black Metal.

Nowadays Carpathian Forest is a band that doesn't please so easily, but with a bit of witness you end getting hooked up by this group, since none of his previous works defrauds, and ' Buck Oyu Hall ', since it wasn't of waiting also. The pornography, the death, the worship to Satan, continue being the props that inspire Nattefrost to composing these letters and that he carries to doing to his musicians a music 'Sow'.

PD: Im sorry for my Bad English...

Vehemency Truly unique, magical, otherworldly. I could sum up Journey Through the Cold Moors of Svartthern with those words. This demo indeed is something rather unique, because there's no distorted electric guitars used. However, the obscure synth mat in the title-track makes it feel like a distorted guitar was playing in the background. Low fidelity acoustic guitars are present everywhere, and so are shrieked screams. And the beautiful synths, the synths...

These are the ingredients on which Journey Through the Cold Moors of Svartthern is built upon. The whole short demo feels exactly how it it is named. Sometimes it is hard to argue why something deserves fife stars, because the experience is very personal. And this is no different. Surely there's many bands that have done something similar in this vein, but so far I haven't heard anything so purely magical as this certain demo.

I believe that Carpathian Forest plays some sort of more thrashy black metal nowadays and that is why I haven't had the guts to listen to any other releases of theirs - I haven't wanted to ruin the magic of this masterpiece because, oddly enough, this demo is how I have through years considered Carpathian Forest to sound.