Falloch - "This Island, Our Funeral" | Album Review

*This review will possibly be posted on the blog Blog Of Putrefaction, I just need to post a review to catch up. Cheers!*

Black metal is undergoing a dramatic stylistic change, and I think a lot of it should be credited to the UK. Artists like Saor, Fen, Winterfylleth and Wodensthrone are branching away from the clichés of the Second Wave and bringing in more reserved and diverse overtones. While Emperor and Darkthrone are arguably the bands that defined the genre, the necessary growth is finally taking place. It’s also proved to be fairly divisive. While many have complained that the genre is losing touch with its roots, it’s possible that this new Falloch album - entitled This Island, Our Funeral  - could convert some of the elitists.

Candlelight Records has black metal credentials above and beyond any other label – In The Nightside Eclipse anyone? Nearly every black metal band on the label’s roster has delivered something that is worthy to defend their name. This is no exception.

Falloch have a deep connection with the Scottish landscape, which translates magnificently into their sound. The whispering guitar leads sit like fog over rolling percussion. The bass rumbles like thunder above Ben Nevis. The production is so pristine that the experience is like walking through untouched Gaellic wilderness. The band seems to have structured their music to reflect the climate, but it doesn’t come across as an attempt to seem pretentious or high-brow. Whether it’s intentional or by pure coincidence that they create an atmosphere that replicates that particular area, they do it in excellent fashion.

There are obvious traits of theirs they share with the classic BM bands. It delivers the same chilling demeanour that an album like De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas perfected when the music calls for it. The instrumentation will liquidize the teeth in your mouth – the guitars are beyond crushing at points. The balance between beauty and ferocity of the genre’s classics is as emotive as it’s been in years. However, the clean vocals may rub die-hards up the wrong way but I’m sure it’ll be a more welcoming to newcomers. While you do hear some infrequent growls, the cleans don’t sound too dissimilar to Brann Dailor of Mastodon. Upon first listen there’s a good chance you’ll question it being a black metal album in the true sense of the term, but its darkness will be revealed to you with repeated listens (a level of mystery a lot of the genre’s heavy weights lack).

In conclusion, This Island, Our Funeral is the obvious progression from their debut Where Distant Spirits Remain.  It may be less triumphant than anything they’ve done, but it’s still refreshing to hear a band evolving so noticeably this early on in their career, experimenting with sounds an established band would fear to. Falloch aren’t waiting to define parameters for themselves; they’re keeping their music free and formless so anything is possible. Excellent.

-          Elliot Paisley