Marblebog’s Forestheart is a strange beast. Many people argue these days that depressive black metal has been done to death; certainly, the Burzum knockoffs are flooding the Internet at an almost alarming rate, and producing some rather mediocre music. At first blush, this album seems to show all the signs of falling neatly into this category.

I had quite a few reasons to write this one off as I listened to it initially. Sure, the first full-length song, “I Am the Forest Heart” has some memorable bits, with brief acoustic interludes and some mouth harp use at the end, but the rest of the tracks discard these motifs. For the most part, if you’re not listening closely, the music seems to fall into the trap of the other works of its ilk: repetitious riffs, inexpert vocals, and even sloppy playing—the tempo occasionally seems to sag and warp a bit with some of the riff transitions. And this was largely how I saw the album initially; I was left wondering what all the Internet hype was about. And then I realized I had been listening to it wrong.

As hackneyed as it sounds, this really is an album for listening to while alone, in the dark. The album’s principle selling point is atmosphere, and the atmosphere is amazing, rivaling and surpassing some of the other greats of this genre at times. That said, and it’s really hard to say why, exactly, this is really easy to miss if you’re doing something else. More so than almost any other album I’ve listened to, this demands attention to really catch the nuances.

Once you do that, though, it’s really very good. The apparent simplicity of the riffs starts to dissolve and some of the music’s hidden complexities come forth. Not that this is a terribly intricate album; the music is as varied as it needs to be to create an atmosphere, and that’s it. Tracks like “A Tempest Never Coming Down” and “Flame of Wisdom”, which had previously seemed dull and samey, start to worm their way into your subconscious. And the title track, which had already seemed the best on the album, becomes amazing, evoking the impression of wandering through an deep forest better than almost anything out there. The only complaint I really have is with the closing track, which ends with six or seven minutes of repetitive, droning bass; but even that can work if viewed as a sort of lulling background.

So many bands these days produce thoroughly superficial music, sounding enjoyable enough on the first listen, but soon breaking down into dull repetition upon subsequent hearings. Marblebog's Forestheart reverses this trend, creating something that can really only be appreciated with careful attention. If you're willing to do that, you'll find this album is, in many ways, wonderful. If you can't, or won't, though, don't be surprised if you find it more than a little dull.