Releasedate:   31-07-2026
Label: AOP Records

German pagan metal band Finsterforst is back with their sixth album “Still”. As a longtime fan, I have always enjoyed Finsterforst’s style and so I was curious about “Still” and the direction the band is taking us. Let’s dig deep.

“Still” offers us over one hour of epic pagan metal madness! Right from the start, we feel the essence of the band’s “black forest metal” style consisting of nice riffs, clean & dirty vocals, a fantastic production and orchestral arrangements. As always, the band manages to balance the rough-ness of their sound with the melodies really well, be it through instruments like the accordion (an essential part of the Finsterforst sound!) or synths/orchestral arrangements. In addition, Finsterforst also manages to mix different styles really well; in addition to pagan/folk metal that we are familiar with, I could also catch influences from post-rock or progressive metal. Apart from their original songs, the band also covered Immortal and Pink Floyd, which add a nice twist to “Still”.

“Still” may be a fine pagan metal album in general but it does not bring anything new to the table. It is indeed a very good album if you want to enjoy the essential Finsterforst sound or if you wanna get your pagan metal fix. In addition, autumn or winter would have been better seasons to enjoy the record instead of summer. So overall, you will enjoy this album if you want a nice classic pagan metal sound and if you are a fan of the band.

Line up:

• Olli Berlin – dirty and clean vocals
• Johannes Joseph – clean solo vocals, accordion, additional choir vocals
• Simon Käflein – lead, rhythm & acoustic guitars, additional clean vocals, synth & orchestral arrangements
• David Schuldis – lead & rhythm guitars
• Tobias Weinreich – bass
• Cornelius Heck – drums
• Sebastian Scherrer – keyboards
• Special guests: Shanty Peter und die Badweihermatrosengewerkschaftskapelle (Flo, André, Johnny, Tobi & Tolo) – epic Black Forest choir

Links:

Official