I Stared into the Forest: 'Society Discontinued'

Recently I was contacted by a DIY record label in Romania called Fading Halo Records. They asked me to promote and review a couple of their first releases. The first is a band called I Stared into the Forest, who play a pummelling style of metal, hardcore and experimental music that I thought was most definitely worth writing about. Society Discontinued contains around 15 minutes of thrashy guitar riffs, high pitched raw screaming vocals and drilling drum beats. This is definitely an EP that you need to crank the volume up on.

The lengths of the songs seem perfect for their musical style and the song structures work really well throughout. The song that stood out for me was the first track Watching the World Collapse, which contains some heavy instrumental parts that blast away through the whole track. There is a decent mix of different pitched vocals, the majority of which are raw screaming giving an instant impression as to what the band are all about. The track Sloth Machine starts with a blast of heavy guitar riffs complemented with steady smashing drum beats. There are some calmer lead parts in this song and towards the end there are some light group vocals, which I thought was a nice touch. This record goes from harsh and shrill tunes in Clean up the Snow, aggressive throaty screams in Sore Monday, to peaceful, calmer melodies in Locked In (Part 1 and 2).

I have to admit, this record did really grow on me after a couple of listens and is for an acquired taste. You either like this style of musicianship or don’t, there is no middle ground. There is a lot of passion in the music and this comes out through the constant push of vocals throughout each song. You can feel the emotion portrayed through the lyrics that come straight from the heart. Alongside this, the music has been carefully written and I Stared into the Forest hold this style down well. Overall, a really good listen and I am hoping other people will say the same. I am sure they will do well in the future and progress from these early days. Check them out here.