Description In 1996, Ildjarn embarked on a year-long flurry of activity after which he ceased recording altogether. The first of three full-length releases from that year, “Forest Poetry” is arguably the most orthodox of the black metal albums in Ildjarn’s divisively unorthodox solo catalog. Unlike his self-titled debut, on which all the song titles (and presumably the lyrics) were in Norwegian, the songs on “Forest Poetry” are all distinctly and evocatively titled in English. (The lyrics also seem to be written in English, though it’s impossible to discern many of them, and Ildjarn has since stated that he destroyed all his written manuscripts.) Like its predecessor, “Forest Poetry” was captured on a 4-track cassette recorder, but the production is not as thin as on the debut. The song-writing is also more complex, though not exceedingly so. As with all his releases, Ildjarn’s power lies in the austerity of his approach. Through self-imposed limitations—working alone using primitive 4-track recording technology and basic instrumentation—Ildjarn forced himself to creatively arrange, dissect, and rearrange the constituent elements of his sound to accentuate the distinct character of each track. Most of the songs on “Forest Poetry” alternate between two different riffs (though occasionally are there more), often augmented with tempo shifts, mid-song drum cutaways, and his signature abrupt tape cuts to end the tracks. “Forest Poetry” closes with the only instrumental track on the album, the plodding, ominous outro “No Place Nowhere,” a single slow riff that fades out after about 90 seconds.
