Full Album Stream: A Forest Of Stars: A Shadowplay For Yesterdays – new album

Prophecy Productions is generously streaming the entire new A FOREST OF STARS album ‘A Shadowplay For Yesterdays’ here (Prophecy YouTube channel) -  also available for your comfort below. ‘A Shadowplay For Yesterday’ is out now, July 20th, 2012, in Germany and Austria, and will become available everywhere else on July 23, 2012 – but North America where the release date is set for August 14, 2012, courtesy Prophecy Productions/Lupus Lounge. The album comes available in four different physical editions: as jewelcase CD, as digipak CD with extended 20-page booklet and bonus track, as limited artbook double CD/DVD with bonus track, bonus CD with two cover songs and DVD, and as limited gatefold  double LP with bonus track, 12-page booklet and poster. Do your shopping here (Prophecy online shop). ‘A Shadowplay For Yesterday’s amazing cover art was created by Karolful, which the band matched by equally amazing video ‘Gatherer Of The Pure’, created by Ingram Blakelock and which is available for your viewing pleasure after an introduction by A FOREST OF STARS keyboardist and percussionist, The Gentleman:

“The Gentlemen's Club of A FOREST OF STARS is truly proud to present its new Théâtre Optique (fancy words we’re told, meaning “an animated film”) for your pleasure, as it follows just one possible fate of our protagonist Mr Carrion Crow. Please spare a thought for Mr Ingram Blakelock - the talented director and animator - as he has to re-draw the film frame by frame every time you command the machine to play. Sadly (for him), some of our Victorian technology isn’t as sophisticated as your own. For his continued sake, we hope you enjoy every last second!”

 

 

Perhaps spiritually belonging to another era, A FOREST OF STARS nevertheless formed in 2007 in Leeds, England. A progressive black metal assemblage, they debuted with 2008's self-released full-length ‘The Corpse Of Rebirth’ (re-issued a year later by Transcendental Creations) described as:

“… a conceptually unified five-song, hour-long manifestation of savage outbursts, dreamy reveries and every mood in between, topped with occult extrapolations upon the “seasons, celestial bodies, and recreational drug use” for what might even be perceived as eco-friendly “green” black metal…”

by AllMusic's Eduardo Rivadavia (more here). Next came ‘Opportunistic Thieves Of Spring’ in 2010 on Transcendental Creations. The album was reviewed by Ned Raggett, AllMusic:

“… the appeal of ‘Opportunistic Thieves Of Spring’ lies best in how the band puts the pieces together rather than necessarily making new statements with them; if anything, their slow-burn arrangements are their secret weapon, along with sudden individual moments in them,” [he wrote – more here]

A FOREST OF STARS features: Mister Curse – vocals, Katheryne, Queen of the Ghosts - violin, flute and vocals, The Gentleman – keyboards and percussion, Henry Hyde Bronsdon – guitar and vocals, Mr Titus Lungbutter – bass, Mr John “The Resurrectionist” Bishop – drums and percussion, Sir Gastrix Grimshw – guitar and vocals and The Projectionist – phantasmagoria, projections, music videography and photomancy

“The year is 1891. The members of the Gentleman's Club of A FOREST OF STARS, an exclusive brotherhood of English Victorians, consider themselves to be exponents of their glorious and pompous, at times decadent era characterized by extreme opposites. A FOREST OF STARS channel the experiences gained from their numerous meetings hazed by opium and absinthe, occult rites and séances in the form of a previously unheard-of ghostly and hypnotic music, filled with the spirit of the glorious Victorian Age – a harrowing testimony of their many spiritual and sensual excesses:”