Wayfarer : "American Gothic"

 

This is a band that has gotten progressively better with each album. Their last album took the number 2 spot in the best black metal albums of 2020. After a great deal of fanfare and a Western-tinged throb of guitar, they get into their more black metal side, which going into this album I was going to be not surprised if they abandoned that entirely. They still hold plenty of snarls, though lean into a more deliberate double bass attack rather than adhering to the blast-beaten formula of black metal. They waste no time lurching into their dark and dusty brand of black metal on the second song. The title of the song "The Cattle Thief' shows they are straying from the typical hymns of darkness to telling tales of grim Americana and the desperation that unfolding in the Wild West. Two songs in and I am already feeling that this is going to be a more metallic album than the last one. Melodic singing does creep in toward the end of the song. 

"Reaper on the Oil Fields" finds the sung vocals behind a distorted filter mixed behind the clang of guitars. I love how the darkness is allowed to simmer. "To Enter My House Justified" still carries the haunted western sound but couple with the epic rage of Immortal. "A High Plains Eulogy" is much more melodic than the previous songs. It features sung vocals as the focus. The overall feel of the creeping riff is darker. "Black Plumes Over God's Country" is more straightforward, though not fast-paced, and employs clean guitars where the chorus would be. They take the road less traveled in this regard by slowing down, then speeding up thanks to the double bass, coming out of this section.  There is a cool guitar solo that adds to the mood rather than dazzle with shredding. 

The last song "Final Constellation" is another song that features sung vocals as the focal point. It has the ringing western feel to the guitars but flows with a hypnotic shoe gaze-like pulse to create something that is very original sounding. This unexpected return to a more straightforward metal album that is still colored by the Western influence comes together in a beautifully dark manner, and shows how they have matured,. I will give this one a 10. This album drops October 27th on Profound Lore.