Old Forest - Mournfall (2021)^{Release ID: 31215}

Old Forest have been increasingly suffusing their black metal with doom for a more melodic and, to me at least, a more satisfying result since 2016's Dagian album. Mournfall is their best album to date and their most fruitful attempt yet at alloying doom and black metal into a coherent whole. Black metal is still the more dominant partner, but alongside the shrieks and blastbeats, their doom riffs are convincing and carry enough weight to satisfy even the most hesitant doomhead. The increased use of clean vocals and simple, but effective, keyboards has added further layers to the imperious, doom-ridden atmosphere they are able to create - check out Despair is my Name for a superb example of what I'm getting at.

This is becoming a good period for fans of blackened doom metal and Old Forest are one of an increasing number of reasons why.