Effortless in recall and unerringly cyclothymic, as if by second nature… Today Piacenza, Italy-based quartet FORGOTTEN TOMB are perhaps better known for their own idiosyncratic entries to the realm of dark metal-infused sludge, black n’ roll and gothic metal with their own heavy rock edge applied yet as they reach for their twenty-fifth anniversary there is inarguably more of a story to tell. Here for album number eleven they’ve smartly taken a chance in returning to and reclaiming their initial infamy as a depressive black/dark metal group, per the earliest years. In search of a more inclusive cumulative identity, ‘Nightfloating‘ appears as an album that could’ve only been sourced from a mind wizened by time and experience in reflection. As they relive and revise the downtrodden mood of a past life and reabsorb that sullen, melodramatic energy the magickal desperation and sorrow of a long-gone age are admittedly impossible to recreate yet the desolate form of melodicism left behind in the past now feels effortless, naturally achieved here upon return.

Forgotten Tomb formed back in 1999 by way of main songwriter, vocalist and guitarist Ferdinando Marchisio aka Herr Morbid and of course if you’d read my review of the just-alright ‘Nihilistic Estrangement‘ back in early 2020 the general history of the band’s evolution was natural in its progression, an ever-moving goalpost of emotional output and stylized indulgence built from a black metal seed. Though I’d felt the band’s tenth album wasn’t entirely for me, and I wasn’t sure I’d cover the next at all, the suggestion that this follow-up would intend to “reinterpret” their depressive black metal roots from the early 2000’s piqued my interest as something more naturally be in my wheelhouse as a fan who’d discovered them through their first three albums. Of course I am not a reflection of popular metal’s interests as the band would accomplish a lot more beyond those very basic, kinda homespun depressive black/doomed beginnings, making great strides in popularity beyond 2007. With this point of view in mind I’d particularly appreciate that rather than re-recording or simply reissuing their first three albums these folks’ve brought that feeling and general modus into their current stable and made it work here on ‘Nightfloating‘.

The suggested intent of ‘Nightfloating‘ is to fuse past-and-present, to seep into the old darkness and parse the dire shades available to the band’s past sound. In most practical terms this means a return to the depressive, malevolent themes of albums like ‘Songs to Leave‘ (2002) and ‘Springtime Depression‘ (2003) when they’d still been picking up the melodic and atmospheric gifts of bands like Katatonia, Bethlehem and Dolorian to name a few. I’m not sure this should suggest a pure black metal record in any sense but rather a different interpretation as to where gothic metal, black/death metal, and the heavy rock influences at the basal level of each make sense when blended. Don’t head in expecting a revival of ‘Loves Burial Ground‘ (2004) or something in the style of ‘Brave Murder Day‘ but rather a blend of where Forgotten Tomb have arisen since then combined with the spiritus of those first three releases from the band.

There is nothing I’d like more than to sit with an overly dramatic blackened metal record and take the prompt to dissociate as deeply as possible though the effect is rare and fleeting. The biggest compliment I could give with this thought in mind is that they’ve captured the narrative ingredients which usually lead to a complete mental disconnect to an exacting degree and in the process produced some of this desirous melancholy in mind. You can tell the mix was pined over ’til stark yet dynamic enough, the guitar tones must ring just so with dread that their open-ended rants hang in mind, and of course leads are a big part of this. We get a bit of everything from recently joined member J. who is best known for his station as a drummer, specifically in Swiss black metal band Aara, who instead contributes lead guitars for this record taking on the major voice/solemn lines that’d defined early Forgotten Tomb. There is a brilliant balance of old and new found on opener/title track “Nightfloating” in this respect yet just as quickly “A Chill That You Can’t Taint” arrives verbose, with much more to say and none of the affected patience of the band’s past work. This is probably my only real criticism of this well-fused function of old and new ideas, that at times there is a joyful dance through these melodic pieces which loses its dire and dreary severity quickly. Still, I think any fan of late 90’s melodic Swedish/U.K. gothic metal will be charmed to death by the melody slung on songs like “The Sickness Withered My Heart”.

Side B takes a few more liberties with their slyly rocking rhythm section, too restless to be contained withing slower pieces and now writhing like snakes on the ready-to-burn “Unsafe Spaces”. So, reaching this point on the album fans of the 2010’s era of Forgotten Tomb won’t at all feel left out but rather begin to feel the darker tone lain over the band’s punchier grooves as a different, heavier mood. Much as I enjoy the immersive burst available at the outset of this album the real ‘meat’ of this concoction bubbles up around this piece and the mania of ‘Nightfloating‘ is best revealed through its many directional shifts; From there the odd choice of a (actually fairly accomplished) dungeon synth piece in “Drifting” interrupts and disarms the flow of the album, causing me to stop and take stock of the experience in the middle of the second half of the record. It doesn’t necessarily fit with the tone of the full listen either as filler or a simple whim though it isn’t a bad little ditty, either. I don’t know that I’ve heard anything like it from Forgotten Tomb and if nothing else it brings an unexpected, I dunno, strangely adventurous dimension to the full listen, breaking it up a bit before the finale hits.

Without likely intending to be as serious-faced and edgy as the old days Forgotten Tomb represent themselves well here with an easily approached record which offers the knack and the depth of their past given the swinging, rocking dread of their evolution since. The choice of a black and grey illustration by Greek artist Satta La Main Verte for the cover artwork feels both literal and evocative enough in its curation, they could’ve just as well taken a campy tour of the bloody, scratched up photographs common to depressive blackened music back in the early 2000’s. As a fair-weather fan of only a choice selection of their now vast discography I’d felt this release was part proper fan service, as in identity affirming and not squarely pandering event, and in keen embrace of everything that’d been interesting about their work up to this point. While I’d not felt an incredibly strong emotional connection to their muse beyond the opener this time around it was yet the sort of sound I’d more naturally envision for the group at this point and (most) all of these songs hit their mark either in terms of tone or melodicism. It is about as much as anyone could reasonably request from a band that’d kept it moving, rarely looking over their shoulder for the twenty plus years since. A moderately high recommendation.

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