Here’s a very cool little 3 song, 30 minute EP out of Southampton England from a female fronted blackgaze/atmospheric black metal act that really hits on all notes for the genre and adds a little of its own angelic character to the mix.

The clear, ignorant comparison is Myrkur, as this is female fronted black metal with a balance of clean, ethereal vocals and hawkish shrieks. However where Myrkur is a little more brittle and frosty in her blackened expulsions, Cairiss take more from the Cascadian, atmospheric black metal scene with a more melodic and robust, but sorrowful timbre. Think Vallendusk, Deafheaven, Woods of Desolation and dare I say, Ghost Bath (fuck you, I love those guys) and such. Also, there is a hue of Opeth lurking under the black sheen with nice, lighter acoustic light segues. There’s also a bit of a crunchier Gothic metal or doom element, especially when front woman Freya Jane-Brown switches to her superbly mournful, ethereal clean voice.

All of those elements are readily apparent in excellent opener “For the Lives He Stole”, a 12 minute monster of a track that covers a lot of ground and a lot of styles confidently and completely in just one song; soft acoustic opening, a big crunchy somber bridge with clean vocals, then a stern black metal expulsion and the cycle repeats, effectively. However, second track, “Disgraced” my favorite of the three really shines. A nice woodsy acoustic intro lulls you into a nice little melodic riff (where the Woods of Desolation and Ghost Bath hues really kick), which Freya adds to in the back ground, then at 3:52, a brilliant, shimmery, tremolo blast kicks in showing a real grasp of delicate but bristling harmonies. It ends with a gorgeously melodic climax and has quickly become of of my favorite songs of the year. “Fall” has the decidedly difficult job of following “Disgraced” but works as a more Myrkur styled atmospheric track allowing Freya to deliver her child-like hypnotic range and close the EP on a beautiful, dreamy note. The nice,  somber, mid pace riff that closes it out, is mere icing on the cake.

The whole thing is rendered with a top notch production from guitarist Ethan Bishop and there is a ‘real’ it factor to this band and release, so I hope some label folks read this (Northern Silence? Hypnotic Dirge?) and get these guys signed and more exposed. Great stuff.

 

[Visit the band's website]

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