Forest is Circle at their mellowest, and while I tend to favor the Finnish hypno-rockers more metallic and rocking albums, this weird trip into

psychedelic forest jams and alien hippie percussion jams is actually pretty rad. It's Circle shifting gears from their "New Wave of Finnish Heavy Metal" to a

weird sort of proggy trance-folk. Four tracks, 45 minutes, opening with the throbbing tribal trance jam of "Havuporti", rainsticks and animal bones shaking

hypnotically in a percussive jam that is gradually joined by soaring analogue synths and weird chanting vocals, like Rick Wakeman suddenly finding himself

jamming alongside satanic forest shaman. Then comes "Luikertelevat", a sinister hypno blues number with a wicked guitar lick repeated ad nauseam, eerie

Goblin style synths, cookie monster growls, culminating in a brain erasing synth meltdown that makes me think of the Escape From New York

soundtrack. "Ydinaukio" returns even more to the blues, and it's here that it finally dawns on me that Circle singer Mika Ratto is actually singing in

English, rather than Finnish or the made-up language that he's used on so many previous Circle albums. We finally come to "Jaljet", Forest's 18

minute closer that begins with four minutes of near silence before the drum circle, synths, and acoustic guitars kick in, and we're immersed in a longform

repeato ritual that becomes something akin to Sunburned Hand Of The Man colliding with that twisted version of 70's prog rock on bad drugs that surfaces all

throughout the album. Yeah, this album is great, mixing together Goblin and Amon Duul and creepy woodland drones and sinister blues licks into a total glaze.