Forlorn Path are a young act from New Jersey, formed in 2008 by Yuriy Garnaev, Ray Dib, Alex Fiore and Dave Imbriaco in New Brunswick, NJ, US of A. In 2010, the quartet recorded a first EP, called Being Towards Death, followed in 2012 by a second EP, Intifada. Since only Yuriy and Dave remain (both other members left in mean time), they joined forces with engineer and musician Ivan Chernikov, and the trio recorded the first Forlorn Path-full length, Man’s Last Portrait. It contains elements from both mini-releases, but this full album for sure is a new step forward in the band’s imminent progression.
Man’s Last Portrait lasts for more than an hour and brings a mixture of eclectic and obscure Black Metal, atmospheric but grim Doom-Death Metal, and elements from USDM, blackened Thrash Metal, Gothic-oriented Dark Metal and atmospheric Ambient. The whole sounds massive, not only because of the production (taken care of by the new guitar player Ivan), but the tracks are simply colossally constructed. The powerful and sometimes very harsh, feral Black parts are interspersed with many acoustic and atmospheric excerpts, melodic Metal passages, old school-oriented and funereal Doom-Death parts, transcending intermezzos and classical additions. Despite all this, and despite the progressive and almost jazzy elements of the first EP’s, this full length can’t be filed as ‘Prog’ material. No, this time the whole is much darker, more haunting and eerie, more suffocative and oppressing.