Style: Atmospheric black metal, folk metal, symphonic metal, progressive metal (mixed vocals)
Recommended for fans of: Moonsorrow, Enslaved, Borknagar
Country: Germany
Release date: 31 July 2026

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German sevenpiece Finsterforst have cultivated a pretty specific style of epic folk-black metal over their twenty year career. Venomous harsh vocals, seismic cleans, and big chants lead the way over gnarled riffs, thunderous brass accompaniment, and lilting accordion breaks. While they don’t yodel, everything Finsterforst write feels like it should be played on the top of a mountain, from Johannes Joseph’s forceful baritone to the endlessly reverberating lead licks of Sam Käflein. Jenseits, the band’s (at forty minutes, rather hefty) 2023 EP, even made our list of our favourite underground records of the 2020s so far. 

On their sixth full-length, Finsterforst continue to move forward—though not without some stumbles. A few different ideas jostle around on Still. One is a renewed focus on clean-picked guitar (typically soaked in reverb) which undergirds a lot of the album’s softer passages. Synth also finds itself utilised more often, with skittering overdriven swells on opener “Obduktion”, plus ghostly ambience on “Herbstwanderung”, and backing synths on the chorus of “Knie Neider”. Joseph’s clean vocals take on more of the load, even leading alone for an unexpected acoustic-only track, “Fels”—the closest thing to a ballad the band have made. It’s also worth noting that Still features much shorter tracks than usual; Finsterforst rarely dip under the ten-minute mark, but here only two of the nine tracks run over ten minutes. 

The problem is, the consciously epic style of Finsterforst really lends itself to longer tracks because it makes those runtimes feel effortless. When the tracks are shorter, they still feel long because they still sound epic… which makes the album feel longer than it is. Without the bonus cover tracks (which we’ll get to later), Still feels about eighty minutes long when it’s actually a comparatively svelte sixty-four. Finsterforst don’t have it in them to make a bad record, but the pacing of Still feels off, and, by and large, the album is business as usual. A bit more clean guitar, singing, and synth are nice touches but don’t change the underlying sound—the distinct riffing style, the general formula of the songs—enough for Still to feel like a particularly bold work in the band’s discography. 

With that said, Finsterforst have a high floor as a band, and there’s still plenty to enjoy here. Aforementioned acoustic track “Fels” is a highlight by dint of its uniqueness within the group’s catalogue and how it lets Joseph’s vocals shine—he’s joined by his bandmates for a three- or four-part vocal solo which becomes a record highlight. Meanwhile, the extended acoustic passages on “Im Wind” and “Stille Nacht” make for beautiful breathing room, and both tracks see Finsterforst doing what they do best, with huge brass accompaniment and Johannes Joseph sounding better than ever. Twenty-four-minute-long closer “Leere” is another example of the Teutonic septet getting stuck into their bread-and-butter, featuring some riff work that crawls up and down the fretboard, and some sick orchestral key changes. 

Still closes with a couple of covers which, while not officially bonus tracks, sure feel like bonus tracks. A take on “Beyond the North Waves” by Immortal plays it fairly safe, sticking to the tried and tested black metal sound of the original. More notable is a cover of “Another Brick in the Wall Part 2”. While the self-serious, brooding intonement from a gravelly-voiced German man of the cockney phrase ‘we don’t need no education’ seems a little silly at first, the band unexpectedly turn the old Pink Floyd classic into a stompy anthem, invoking their friends in the Black Forest choir for the second verse, and then leaving Käflein to do what he does best for the iconic solo. Given that his guitar tone and soloing style have always reminded me of David Gilmour on “Sorrow” (A Momentary Lapse of Reason), there’s something fitting about the cover, and it’s a great example of a band taking on a song very different to their own sound and successfully making it their own.

Finsterforst’s sixth outing sees the group as colossal as ever. If Still’s chief sin is sounding too much like Finsterforst, it’s a good thing that even when they’re self-cannibalising a little they still sound fantastic. Consistency is no bad thing, and the swings that the band attempt prove alternately rewarding or a little undercooked. But with a central vocal performance that sounds better than ever and some genuinely rousing tracks, Still proves that Finsterforst remain one of the more unique voices in the folk metal scene.

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Recommended tracks: Im Wind, Stille Nacht, Fels, Leere
You may also like: Dordeduh, Negură Bunget, Dead to a Dying World
Final verdict: 7/10

Related links: Bandcamp | Facebook | Instagram

Label: Art Of Propaganda Records

Finsterforst is:
– 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

With guests:
– Shanty Peter und die Badweihermatrosengewerkschaftskapelle (Flo, André, Johnny, Tobi & Tolo) – epic Black Forest choir