“Cascade of time.”
It’s unfortunately true that heavy music culture dissects new artists through the lens of the old. Technical music projects are routinely dismissed for daring to enjoy Meshuggah’s sound. In post rock it’s depends on how many samples are in use: none leads to Explosions in the Sky, and many to Godspeed You! Black Emperor. There are figureheads to defer to throughout metal, from trash to black to death to doom. The legacy of artists like Boards of Canada or Aphex Twin cast shadows long on other genres. Is a “dismissive-by-default” attitude only natural, or have we talked ourselves into it over decades of cemented web culture? If you find yourself in this mindset, break free – take all those music rating websites with a pinch of salt, experience music live as an art form that is practised rather than archived, and really, really let a new release sink under your skin.
Few genres are more hampered by the “heard it before”-killjoy instinct than ‘post metal’. Expectations are lowered quicker than you can say “Cult of Luna”or “Neurosis”. This has always felt unfair when the realm that is explored by the genre is so open – it’s a catch-all for any heavy, distorted, dark or downcast style, and comes free of structural expectations or sonic limits. Even though I have mentioned these forebears before speaking about Wren’s new record, I’m doing so to try and separate them from the default perspective on the genre; BLACK RAIN FALLS is unique even within Wren’s own catalogue, let alone the wider scene.
Wren’s debut Auburn Lull and follow up GROUNDSWELLS were both strong records that followed the familiar footsteps of post metal greats. On BLACK RAIN FALLS there’s a conscious effort to strike out down a new path. The record posits the band as a four-piece, decidedly under-layered for a record of its kind. There are no crescendos, and instead the record’s heights are reached via the fundamentals of compelling songwriting. These are songs that carefully play with tension and resolution, preferring the former for almost their whole runtime until some pivotal moment that may never come. It follows that the riffs in play are particularly unusual, tempered with dissonance and teetering around implied notes. The only concession to typical post metal stylings are the harsh vocals, a dry bark which is pointedly invariant throughout the album.
The single “Metric Of Grief” is the poster child for Wren’s new style. With a main riff that borders on minimalism, the track feels heavy without ever sending it all the way. Powerful bass and tom hits culminate towards momentary diversions, pulling us back to the main riff again. The track’s somewhat-bridge deepens the curious atmosphere, holding off on resolving until the finale – which is just a half measure of the main riff. It’s a plot twist that tell that the uncomfortable space we felt trapped in was the true melodic centre all along. Nerdy analysis aside, it’s a hypnotically compelling track. Similarly unusual songwriting moves play out on the two openers “Flowers Of Earth” and “Toil In The Undergrowth”, longer tracks that will leave you hanging for their moments of resolution.
“Precede The Flint” is as close as the record comes to calm, but Wren’s style makes this only more tense. It’s not just that the title rhymes with Slint; the track oozes tension from its hanging melody and floating noise. The mid section contains a sprint of blast beats, living up to their self described ‘blackened noise’ descriptor, and continues to stand out on the album as they’re caught at their most melodic (perhaps ‘least dissonant’ is the better way to say it).
For all I’ve said about the need to separate new artists from their influences, if you are looking for something more familiar, BLACK RAIN FALLS has the moments that will satisfy you. Perhaps the most straightforward track is the closer “Scorched Hinds”, which moves like Mastodon in slow motion, offering a smashing chorus and suitably massive conclusion. “Betrayal Of The Self” applies Wren’s irreverent new style to a purely heavy track, beefing it with expanded percussion and a mix focused on the gorgeous bass. These tracks don’t undermine the many sublime moves that the band makes to keep BLACK RAIN FALLS in unfamiliar territory.
In this review and beyond, I’ve spoken on (and perhaps been pre-occupied by) the challenge of bands existing on the shoulders of their influences. Artists and audiences have different ways of processing new music. The more niche the sound is, the more we seem to be shackled by its perceived past (or at the very least, I hope that the equivalent pop music circles aren’t constantly arguing about being derivative). Getting to know BLACK RAIN FALLS is an example where I’ve had to question my own process of sorting music in my head. It’s undoubtedly influenced by that funny genre space known as ‘post metal’, so why does it move in a completely different way? This is what I’ve tried to unpick above, and perhaps some will disagree. If one steps into this record expecting to hear a particular sound, and they’ll hear it. This is a record that is full of subtle surprises, all of them deliberate at the result of careful work by Wren.
8/10
BLACK RAIN FALLS releases on the 21st February and can be pre-ordered here: UK/EU/US.