There’s music that breaks the mold, that changes and evolves, and that defies the music genre canon - and that is exactly what Fórn’s Repercussions of the Self gives the listener. Not only featuring album art that hints at this next chapter of the band, but also giving the fans that Sludge and Funeral Doom sound that’s characteristic to their music.

The album’s sound is immersive, cinematic and cathartic, giving heavy layers mixed with electronic sounds that juxtapose and bring this chapter into shape. Be prepared; this will be a treat to your ears, giving you what you look for when you listen to Fórn but also paving the way into what will be their next form. Don’t say you haven’t been warned but one thing is definitely for sure, it will be breathtaking. Bask in the beauty of the sounds of Repercussions of the Self.

Fórn is a band that needs no introduction as they have been around for over ten years as a band and have collaborated with labels such as Gilead Media, Vendetta Records and now, have found a home with their new label Persistent Visions. From their debut album The Departure of Consciousness, released in 2014, to their split with Yautja released in 2015 and their sophomore album Rites of Despair in 2018 they have delivered one amazing recording after the other, always giving it that touch that makes each of them special in their own way. Repercussions of the Self also brings a new member to join the band and who has also collaborated with them in the past with vocals and electronics: Lane Shi Otayonii (Elizabeth Colour Wheel). This album was written after major events within the band members’ lives and a global pandemic that changed the world, all of these events influencing the album and the writing of the same. The artwork for this album is a collaboration between Alexander L. Brown and Devin Toye.

The record is formed by six tracks that go from downtuned, heavy guitars to electronic and industrial sounds that give this album a film score like sound. Its opening track, “Pact of Forgetting” which was the first single of the album and with guest vocals by Ilsa’s Orion Peter, makes you feel like traveling through a tunnel where the hypnotic sound shakes and surrounds you while increasing the volume, preparing you for what’s to come with the next track. “Soul Shadow”, which was the second single of the album, starts with the growling vocals and slow down tuned guitars, and has a groove that calls for immediate headbanging. It doesn’t take long for all things to slow down and have melodic vocals provided by Lane which bring a sense of calm and peace before it all starts to go back into that darkness and grief-stricken heaviness. “Hela’s Choir” is a track with a cadence that has a swaying sound, also filled with various vocal tracks with melodies that are blended with harsh vocals and electronic beats. The next track, “Anamnesis”, brings more of that industrial-like electronic sound with guitar riffs; it feels just perfect. “Regrets Abyss” gives you that Funeral Doom pace, that despair in the vocals that has become very characteristic of Fórn’s sound while adding elements that shape the soundscapes Fórn beautifully achieve with this album. The last track, “Dreams of the Blood” is the last track on Repercussions of the Self. It has a slow start with sequences and samples which are still giving that cinematic feel that allows us, as listeners, to enjoy those moments before it breaks into a more intense moment, where there are moments where it allows you to catch your breath just to abruptly end it, almost like making it to the top to gasp for air but being pulled back to the depths. There is a moment almost halfway through this track that breaks into a more slow pace, making way to soothing vocals that take time to mix with the harsh wall of doom and sludge that breaks that peace like a bulldozer, tearing it all down and leaving you in awe.

Repercussions of the Self is an album that took time to take shape, and to take Fórn into a new direction which can both satisfy fans of the previous albums while giving us different sounds that come together and compliment this new chapter in a beautiful way. This is an album that definitely honours both the band’s past and also opens the path into their future. The record is definitely an album that doesn’t fit into a mold and that stands on its own as one great release.