Behind the Abysmal Sky / Forever Sleeping Greystones

Here's a blast from the past right here. Forgotten Sunrise were part of the first death metal boom in Europe in the '90s and the first Estonian act in the style to really catch on. I remember being impressed with their 1993 demo, Behind the Abysmal Sky, and their 1994 EP, Forever Sleeping Greystones, so it's damn cool to learn that they have released a digital version of their compilation of the two releases, albeit without the live material.

Musically, this is a band that was doing something very different from the masses at the time, working in a style I can best call doom/death 'n' roll. The closest comparison I can make is God Forsaken's Dismal Gleam of Desolation mixed with Xysma's groundbreaking Yeah, and that is most evident on the six tracks from Behind the Abysmal Sky. However, by the time they got to Forever Sleeping Greystones, they really started pushing into uncharted waters with their sound to make something new and exciting, first evident the shamanic beginning of "Unknown Land of Silence" and apparent throughout with the incorporation of violins, flutes, and excellent clean vocals courtesy of grunter Anders and the lovely female singing of Reilika (Krims), which give counterpoint to the harsher parts of their sound while complementing the more melancholic aspects.

For anyone new to these Estonian legends, or even those who lost track of them after these releases, I should definitely note they became an electronic industrial act by the time they released their full-length Ru:mipu:dus, and they never really looked back since, so the less adventurous out there will probably not like what they became. Still, that doesn't diminish the quality of the material on this compilation, and anyone looking for an approach to doom/death that remains novel to this day will want to give this a spin.