Written By Kevin McSweeney
Æl-Fierlen All is Far Away album review
I remember the good old days when you knew where you stood with black metal. They didn’t go in for any of this fey, otherworldly stuff. They were interested only in Satan, and were too busy rampaging through the forests to hug the trees.
They were preoccupied with screeching their throats to shreds and developing carpal tunnel syndrome in their wrists from all the lightning-fast tremolo picking, so had no time to concern themselves with melody or atmospherics.
This modern lot don’t know they’re born! OK, this isn’t technically black metal per se. it’s blackgaze, or blackened shoegaze, or however you prefer to render it. But is it too much to ask that they stop prancing around through nature for five minutes to go burn down a church or something? Call me a traditionalist…
For more deep, crate-digging picks, see our Deep Cuts column; and if you’re after weekly hand-picked tracks, check out Metal Lair’s Seven Deadly Songs (SDS) roundup.
British blackgaze quartet Æl-Fierlen have just released their debut album, All is Far Away (that surely can’t be the case. Some things are far away, whereas others are simply small). The title is the literal meaning of their band name, which is an old Anglo-Saxon term, apparently. It’s a reference to the ancient folklore and long-discarded customs in English history, the whispers of which can still be heard on the winds that rustle the leaves of the dense, verdant English forests from which they draw their inspiration. Or something along those lines anyway.
My experience of being in English forests tends to involve getting soggy and muddy and praying it won’t be very much longer before I find a pub, or at least a flushable toilet, so what would I know about any of that? Let’s concentrate on the songs instead.
To Sleep Eternal begins proceedings with the kind of combination of heavy guitars and heavenly synths that would appeal not just to fans of crazy, hazy, blackgazy types like Deafheaven and Alcest, but to anyone with a fondness for White Pony-era Deftones, October Rust-era Type O Negative, Him, Nightwish or indeed any artist with a penchant for juxtaposing the savage with the celestial.
The ethereal vocals of Stephanie Moffatt float over the earthy ferocity of the music as if borne by the gossamer wings of the seraphim. It’s a far cry from the banshee howls one normally associates with black metal or any of the sub-subgenres it has spawned. Lyrically, it’s poetic, and perhaps surprisingly positive, urging the subject thus:
Don’t reject the dreams
Don’t make a sound
Sink into the night
But not yet
The ground
These are surprisingly wholesome sentiments, given the dark, fatalistic and perhaps even nihilistic nature of much of the lyrical content in extreme metal.
Pulrose starts with acoustic guitar in 6/8 time, bringing us decidedly into the realm of folk music, which is juxtaposed by the introduction of a vocal delivery that is altogether more demonic in character, and very much more in keeping with the defining characteristics of black metal. When the clean vocals return, they do so with lush harmonies, but not before some blood-curdling screams. It is a haunting piece of music in more than one sense.
Eðe is apparently inspired by the story of the Axeman of New Orleans, which explains why the lyrics veer into Cannibal Corpse territory, minus the more overtly gory elements. The track opens with reverb-laden guitar chords ringing out over a rudimentary drum pattern, which builds in intensity through a crescendo of cymbals before opening up into a blast beat complete with ferocious guttural metal vocals from guitarist Rob Melville.
For the first time on this release we find ourselves in traditional black metal territory, though when Moffatt’s ethereal vocals regain control, the melody comes through like crepuscular rays on a bleak and stormy day, as phantasmagorical images play out across the black clouds in 12/8 time. The song then drifts to its denouement by way of solemn arpeggios underpinning Moffatt’s siren song.
(Whatever I’m on, I need to lay off it! It’s a good job nobody reads my work!)
Final track Ællmiht – they kill me with these diphthongs! – begins with chords that are clean and gentle but strangely ominous-sounding, not least because of the accompanying footsteps. It’s probably supposed to represent someone roaming through nature but it makes me feel like I’m in The Blair Witch Project.
Moffatt seems to draw upon the musical heritage of these islands particularly in her vocals here, adopting something akin to a Celtic Sean Nós singing style. When the heaviness imposes itself, it serves to augment the melody rather than diminish it, even with the blast beats making an appearance towards the end.
Indeed, the vocals become more harmonised and serene as everything else becomes more and more cacophonous, as both song and album come ineluctably to their end. Stately and solemn, it’s an epic piece of music that concludes matters in emphatic fashion.
So, that’s quite the debut from this promising British band. In this Æl-Fierlen All is Far Away album review the band combines the brooding intensity of Darkthrone with the atmospheric dreaminess of the Cocteau Twins, the synth-doused despondency of Disintegration-era Cure, the rustic trad sensibilities of Korpiklaani, and the rich, tree-hugging harmonies of Wildwood Kin. It’s an intoxicating blend!
Though the gaze is black, it is directed at the majestic beauty of nature in all its resplendent glory, and we can’t wait to hear what inspiration they draw from it next time around. Just one small request: fewer diphthongs in future, please!
Metal Lair awards All is Far Away by Æl-Fierlen four Metal Horns out of five.
TRACK LISTING
1. To Sleep Eternal
2. Pulrose
3. Eðe
4. Ællmiht
Æl-Fierlen
Photo: Robin “Dobbin” Thomas(@robbin_dobbin_t)
BAND LINEUP
Stephanie Moffatt – vocals
Rob Melville – guitar
OB O’Brien – bass
“Ginger” Will Taylor – drums
The release of All Is Far Away will be celebrated with a release show at London’s legendary Hope & Anchor venue on Sunday, 21st September, with support from Sigils and Dislycan. You can find tickets for the show here.
Æl-Fierlen Online
