Reviews: Æl-Fierlen, Cemetery Dogs, Sigils, Mount Slatra (Matt Bladen)

Æl-Fierlen - All Is Far Away (Self Released)

There's a certain type of music that keeps me coming back. Ever since I was young I've always been drawn towards bands that bring mysticism and magick and draw heavy influence from the natural world and from superstition and folk tales. For instance my love of Mostly Autumn reminds undying as they have always very carefully matched classic 70's prog with English Folk, so too have Big Big Train.

Now when these traditional, spectral elements are used by band on the more extreme end, their effects becomes more pronounced, the haunting melodies counteracted by ferocity, those atmospheric peaks falling into blistering troughs. When shoegaze, black metal and folk all combine in the creation of an album such as All Is Far Away.

To Sleep Eternal, defines the Æl-Fierlen style very early on with a glistening beginning that moves towards acoustics and harmonic clean guitars, before the loudness swells into layered shoegaze riffs and the echoed ethereal vocals. Building toward climactic guitar solo then a tremolo break/blast section. With Eðe they exhibit the harsher side as death growls come on top of a the records heaviest cut.

Æl-Fierlen are a band that do what I've just described well, having seen them open One For Sorrow in Plymouth a few weeks ago I can attest to how captivating they are on stage, but on record they mange to be even more impressive, the balancing of the mix allows the beautiful, crystalline vocals of Stephanie Moffatt to beguile, part Bush, part Bjork and with a lot of Heather Findlay too.

Her spoken whispers lingering more with headphones, while drummer "Ginger" Will Taylor, exercises his percussion into a type of tribalism, such as the beginning of Pulrose. Then in an instant Stephanie switch into blackened shrieks as the blast beats and tremolo picking from guitarist Rob Melville and black metal gallop from bassist OB O'Brien immediately shift the mood.

Much like Alcest or Deafheaven, I guess you could liken it to blackgaze but Æl-Fierlen shift into more empyrean and less tangible moments too often. The influence of heritage, pre-Christian paganism and the land itself all of which inspire bands such as Winterfylleth, are felt strongly on this debut record which the band describes as "an ethereal embrace of all things sombre."

These a tales that cross oceans, while most of the album titles are in Anglo-Saxon, lyrically they are inspired by American history and folklore, the music of Melville combining with the lyrics of Moffatt, be it the Axeman of New Orleans or being stalked by an alligator or trying to find yourself, the feelings of unease, of being lost as the forest surround you and nymphs speak in riddles is all too present on All Is Far Away.

Æl-Fierlen open their arms to the spectral on this new record, they thrive in the downbeat, conjuring macabre stories that will see you right through the every increasing darkness of autumn. 9/10

Cemetery Dogs - CCC Demos (Self Released)

South Wales latest heavy riffers Cemetery Dogs have built up quite a number of gigs in the last year or so, about time they release some of these tracks then right? Luckily they have with their CCC Demos collecting three tracks from their live set, recorded at Cathays Community Centre, these are three D.I.Y slabs of stoner riffs, with Clutch and CKY channelled through Kyuss it's rough and ready to be consumed as they plan their next moves on the live stage.

Cemetery Dogs are Scott on lead vocals/guitar, Jo on bass/backing vocals and Phil on drums and if you've seen them live you know they love to create a racket, which translates well on to a record as things get going with Beside The Grave. It's an Atomic Rooster/Status Quo boogie which gives you the first impression of the Cemetery Dogs style riff worship, giving most of the song to instrumental, be it the opening groove or the middle eight, those booming vocals are used to just to repeat chorus. 

From here it's into the driving punk of No Reason, even with the raw (or lack of) production you can hear the talents clearly. The bass and guitars are suitably fuzzy, the four stings laying down thick grooves while the six strings lock down the rhythms but also get some slinky lead breaks too, soloing on the final track Roundhouse. The drummer though shines, rather than just keep pace, he has a flair to his pummelling. 

I've been impressed by Cemetery Dogs on stage and they have managed to capture a lot of what they bring to a venue with these three demos, they're rough yes but not to the detriment of what the band are trying to achieve. 7/10

Sigils - 108 (Self Released)

Now when I pressed play on 108 by Sigils, there was one major thing I noticed that was holding it back from really hitting me. The production. It's not bad by any means but it does lack that omph that the record needs to really hook you on the first listen. Especially after Close Your Eyes does so well at hooking you in with shimmering melodies, when the big metal chugs come in they feel a little muddy in the bottom end.

However! This is only thing negative that I can say about this record as it's a really a good listen if your a fan of that progressive metalcore/Djent or the modern atmospheric prog metal sound. I can make comparisons to Tesseract and Leprous along with the many other bands they share styles with but for me there's also a really strong influence of anything Chris Clancy does, both magically and vocally. Ironically if they had him produce it, it would have that meanness.

Again I digress as musically they hold up, there's plenty of riffs which segue and switch into another set all within one song, the technical expertise is very high, throughout, the drumming too is inventive while the bass keeps the grooves locked in tight, ready for the atmospheric moments and breakdowns. What drew me to the record though was the vocals, mainly clean and sonorous, they carry emotions well and the harsh side is used when needed, such as on Shores where they're used to add a bit of heft.

As the album progresses though they become more prominent, with the visceral Wreckage and Horizons And Epicenters both relying more on them. Closing with the muscular Apollyon, 108 is packed with modern prog metal and is well worth a listen if you like some aggression with your melodies. 8/10

Mount Slatra - Divine In Ruin (Self Released)

How about a bit of West Midlands thrash? Well Mount Slatra have got you covered with their debut EP Divine In Ruin, it's 26 minutes of outright thrashing that is inspired by Testament on Fists Of The Fallen/Scorched Earth, Slayer on Mr Axe/Cult Of The Heavens/Battalion and also bands such as Forbidden with Soul Thief, a boatload of Bay Area influence, comes on these six tracks as Ben Alexander and Emma Powell lay down the pace, Ben with double kicks as Emma puts in some tasty melodic breaks. 

George North's distorted guitar tone is ripe for divebomb feedback and buzzsaw riffage while Ryan Darling has the right amount of grizzledness meets melody to his voice. While Mount Slatra don't change the game, they do a damn good job of getting a mosh going with this debut EP. Blood soaked thrash with that Bay Area sound. 7/10