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London based four-piece WREN have been honing their experimental sludge onslaught for the best part of a decade, with a slew of deliciously grim albums and EPs already under their belt. It was only a matter of time before they were picked up by Church Road Records, who have been making a name for themselves in recent years as the finest purveyors of challenging and extreme music by some of the most hotly tipped acts the UK has to offer. WREN’s Church Road debut comes in the form of Black Rain Falls, a seven-song, 35 minute exploration of grief and despair through the medium of soul-crushing sludge and post-metal.
Anyone who’s been keeping an eye on the UK underground in will have noticed a scene of sorts forming in recent years with the likes of HIDDEN MOTHERS, HUNDRED YEAR OLD MAN, FATALIST, COPSE, BA’AL, and STILL to name a few. As well as treading the same touring routes and sharing bills, these burgeoning bands take a similar approach in taking elements of post-metal, sludge, noise and black metal to create bleak and emotionally powerful music, with each band being unique in its own way. Fans of any of the aforementioned bands will no doubt be aware of WREN, and if you’re not, you soon will be.
One thing that WREN have in common with STILL in particular is that both bands have created harrowing yet cathartic albums as a way to process the grief of losing someone close. With STILL‘s A Theft it was the death of Fraser Briggs’s father, whereas Black Rain Falls deals with the untimely death of a friend of the band. The weighty subject matter gives both albums an almost claustrophobic atmosphere, however while STILL convey their grief through blastbeats and tremolo picking, WREN utilises the sonic palette of doom and drone, grinding out their laments at glacial pace.
The opening riff of Flowers Of Earth builds suspense and tension to breaking point before sledgehammer drums and the anguished vocals of Owen Jones kick in and take the listener on a harrowing journey that lurches between unnerving quiet that and piercing dissonance, like they’re forcing the listener to take an uncomfortable introspective look into their own souls before spinning them around and showing them the horrors of the earth. Toil In The Undergrowth is similarly bleak, set at a funeral pace that slowly builds to a vertigo inducing crescendo, the delay on Jones’ vocals making it sound like he’s yelling into the void and it’s yelling back at him.
Each of the compositions are incredibly layered and dynamic, Chris Pickering and Owen Jones’ guitars playing off each other beautifully, one providing that sludgy backbone while the other picks out discordant arpeggios in a cleaner, reverb heavy tone while Mark Lotz’s bass provides an almost drone-like quality to the low end, especially on the crushingly heavy moments of songs like Betrayal Of Self and the punishing closer Scorched Hinds. Much like the album’s enthralling artwork, shades of dark and light are intricately pieced together to create something that reveals more the harder you look. On the album’s centrepiece, Metric Of Grief this interplay and creativity shines brightest, as they weave passages together that sound like an unholy union of NEUROSIS, CULT OF LUNA and even RADIOHEAD together to create a terrifying yet entrancing tapestry.
Everything is held together with the solid and inventive drumming of Seb Tull who even at such slow speeds manages to add intriguing fills and rhythmic choices that elevate the songs while keeping the listener grounded to the spot. The density of this collection of songs means that the relatively short run-time doesn’t leave the listener feeling short-changed either. Producer Scott Evans of Antisleep Studios has done a masterful job of capturing the individual performances and mixing so that the many layers of fuzz and feedback are balanced enough so that the subtler moments are still able to make themselves heard amongst the din, like sharks fins protruding from the surface of a churning sea.
Recent releases from the UK’s burgeoning “post-everything” scene have shown just what a crop of talent this small isle has to offer, and with Black Rain Falls, WREN have just added another stunning piece of work to that collection.
Rating: 8/10
Black Rain Falls is set for release on February 21st via Church Road Records.
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The post ALBUM REVIEW: Black Rain Falls – Wren appeared first on Distorted Sound Magazine.
