I was not familiar with the British atmospheric black metal band A Forest of Stars before reader Jordan T. e-mailed me about them yesterday. I sat down to watch the below video for the song “Raven’s Eye View,” and was intrigued by the description which accompanied it on the band’s official YouTube page:

This footage was discovered in the attic of a descendant of James W Longley, Louis le Prince’s assistant. It was lovingly pieced together by the Louis le Prince Restoration and Appreciation society. Unfortunately most of the material was badly damaged and this represents the majority of the remaining film. This is considered to be the final recording produced by Louis le Prince before his mysterious disappearance aboard a train bound for Paris on the 16th September 1890.

In case you don’t know who Louis le Prince was, well, he was one of the first inventors of the moving image (possibly the first – as is so often the case with these kinds of things, there have been conflicting stories throughout history). He did, indeed, disappear from a train under mysterious circumstances, and to this day we have no idea what happened to him; he may have drowned, but it’s never been 100% confirmed.

Unfortunately, the illusion that this is actual lost le Prince footage is immediately ruined by the fact that just below the description are the words “Music video Directed and Produced by Ingram Blakelock.” Also that the footage isn’t very convincing looking.

But whatever. It’s a cool idea… in theory. But the song is eight and half-minutes long, and not only is the music more boring than the thought of Dave Mustaine and Kerry King actually getting along, but the video gets old fast, too. So I applaud these dudes for trying to do some kind of cool viral thing, but wish they had gone about it in a more clever manner.

Jordan says that the band has a new album, Opportunistic Thieves Of Spring, coming out June 1; so if you enjoyed this, y’know. Mark it in your calendar.

-AR