I remember when I first got this batch of promos I asked a friend if they’d ever heard of a band called Mithotyn. They told me their debut album In The Sign Of The Ravens was an amazingly good album. Respecting my friend’s opinion I tossed in their latest release King Of The Distant Forest (licensed in North America through Metal Blade Records) expecting some amazing black metal. After getting through a few songs I found myself extremely disappointed. The production is handled by King Diamond guitarist Andy LaRocque and is very good. The music is well played. The drumming is solid. There’s just something lacking in this album. The title track is just your average, ordinary Gothenburg-influenced black metal, with the annoyingly high vocals, it’s not bad, but it’s not great either. "Hail Me" combines a lot of 80s metal guitaring mixed with traditional Scandinavian folk music and deep voiced singing, but lacks anything of real value or interest. "From The Frozen Plains" has very basic beats, along with very uninteresting and uninspired guitar work and back to the typical annoyingly high vocals. Again, nothing interesting. "On The Misty Pathways" starts out with some relatively interesting guitar work and the vocals are adequate for the song, but certainly nothing to rave about. "The Legacy" basically continues along with the traditional folk-type electric guitaring with the constant blast beats and high pitched shrieks, but the guitars are so high pitched it just lacks any real depth. "Trollvisa" continues along with the same beats, patterns and folkish theme but goes nowhere. "Under The Banner" reverts back to that 80s rock-metal sound… still no sign of what supposedly makes Mithotyn a great band. The album does ramble on a bit longer with "We March", "The Vengeance", "Masters Of Wilderness" and "In A Time Of Tales", but they just continue along at the same pace with the same rhythm. I haven’t heard In The Sign Of The Ravens, but everyone tells me it blows this album away, so I supposed I’d recommend picking that album up. King Of The Distant Forest just does nothing for me and sounds basically the same as every other boring black metal album Metal Blade has licensed.

Review byTeufel