As I have said before, I believe that SEAR BLISS is one of the best bands in the atmospheric Black Metal scene with high quality stuff. Forsaken Symphony was their fourth album, originally out from Red Stream Records, and now is being re-released by Vic Records after the remastering by Dan Swano inside his Unisound Studio.
The band appeared in 2002 with Phantoms as their debut full length. I consider Forsaken Symphony as one of their weakest moments comparing to the rest discography. I think that the previous Grand Destiny release also falls in the aforementioned category. Although, I must underline the existence of some very good songs here, in the end the album looses some points as a whole. More specific, in their best song ever, She Will Return, there is great atmosphere with a black feeling of pessimism in a blue funk. Inside this, lies a sphere of heroic and majestic aura in an epic way, something that can be also found in almost all their songs. Very good also are the first two songs, Last Stand with its chaotic and calm intro and the second, My Journey To The Stars, that is lost in other worlds.
Although, Forsaken Symphony continues in the same vein it also makes me feel tired. You can blame the long time duration of some songs that -between us- would be better if they were two or three minutes shorter. Adding to that is the absence of good riffs that somehow makes the album difficult to follow.
The next two albums of these Hungarian blacksters, known for their use of the trombone to their aggressive sounds, are much better. They will be more dynamic with sturdy compositions that can melt easily inside everyone's head. Andras Nagy vocals will gain more personality and their music -in general- will keep their war-like original touch of the band. On the other hand, it will expand with more powerful results. This re-release has also the Two Worlds Collide video clip, as bonus, that originally comes from the killer Glory And Perdition album.