Seldom has there been a band whose name matches their sound better than Forest Swords. Perhaps it was the packaging on Matthew Barnes’ initial Dagger Paths EP but his music always brings visions of Kurosawa-esque Japanese landscapes, with the ronin drifting from town to town, running from himself and his past more than having any one destination in mind. Like some kind of Toshiro Mifune-centric wet dream transplanted onto the English countryside.
If the track “The Weight of Gold,” which you can read all about in this Chocolate Grinder post, can be used as evidence to a make a conjecture: Forest Swords’ new album Engravings is going to give us more of these pensive samurai visions. Which is fine, because Forest Swords has the market for Hiroshi Inagaki-flavored mind-movies cornered. More of that is all too welcome and will hopefully be provided when Engravings graces us with its presence on August 26. Until then, there are the preview tracks “The Weight of Gold” and “Thor’s Stone” to soundtrack katana slapping, righteous vengeance gilded fantasies of endless bamboo forests, and battle-mad ronin.
Engravings tracklisting:
01. Ljoss
02. Thor’s Stone
03. Irby Tremor
04. Onward
05. The Weight of Gold
06. Anneka’s Battle
07. An Hour
08. Gathering
09. The Plumes
10. Friend, You Will Never Learn
• Forest Swords: http://forestswords.tumblr.com
• Tri Angle: http://tri-anglerecords.com
More about: Forest Swords
