Band:	Forhekset
Album:	First Step To Nowhere
Style:	Black metal
Release date:	2007

01. Withered Wings
02. Her Crimson Lust
03. Transcendence
04. Holzwege

Forhekset (perhaps named after Satyricon's "Nemesis Divina" song of the same name?) is a melodic black metal quartet from Perugia, Italy. Luckily though, in my opinion this band doesn't sound like that song. It's a more melodic type of black metal with more focus on the very melodic guitars instead of a constantly deep guitar rhythm which is half-drowned in the drumming.

"First Step To Nowhere" is the title of this young band's first demo. There's quite a bit of variation on the four tracks, which is never a bad thing. Sometimes the music is mainly a melodic guitar line, at other times the growls and the drum kit take the lead. At times it's even mostly bass-oriented. Some parts are really catchy, rather melodic death metal than black, and at other times a bit "blacker", but it's always pretty melodic. The album also ends with a four and a half minute instrumental track.

For example the second track, "Her Crimson Lust" starts with an acoustic part accompanied by harsh whispering, then goes over to a "melodic black" part, then into a very melodic guitar line, again the drumming kicks in and the guitar gets a bit deeper. Then a scream and shortly after the song drives into a melodic death riff with the fitting drumming - We are now at 1:50. This is just one example of how rich in variation this demo is even, or especially, within the songs themselves. From my point of view this is probably the biggest forté of Forhekset.

Of the music's different faces I enjoy the powerful, more melodic death metal-like catchy riffs most. And the melodic guitar lines, while not bad, are sometimes the parts I enjoy the least. Sometimes they seem just a bit over the top to me - either they're too frequent, too melodic or both.

The way I see it, it certainly is the "first step" of the band but I don't really see the "to nowhere" part. I think this band could produce some really good stuff if their music matured a bit more. Perhaps with a bit more power behind the drums and the vocals and perhaps with the melodic guitar lines being a bit less dominant, I see myself immensely enjoying their next output. As it is, this demo is quite enjoyable but still a bit lacking in some parts. They also deserve better production but then again bad production is to be expected with first demos.

If you're one for melodic black metal then you might want to give these guys a listen. But what you should do in any case is remember the band's name because they have the potential to release great material in the future.