El-Ahrairah

El-Ahrairah, their name taken from the book Watership Down (which I still need to get around to reading), have released a slew of demos going back nearly a decade, but have only now gotten around to recording their debut album. El-Ahrairah sounds very much like a demo, featuring bare-bones raw production. While it would not be unreasonable to assume that a raw black metal album featuring a heaping helping of crust punk would be as filthy and unfriendly as it gets, this is surprisingly accessible. With infectious melodies and atmospheric keyboards rising above the grime, this debut finds a nice balance between beauty and filth.

While inarguably a black metal band, I don't think it would be a big stretch to say that El-Ahrairah have the soul of an epic crust band (or neo-crust if you're into using cringeworthy terminology). From what I can tell, their ideologies match up pretty closely with the crust scene, there are definitely some riffs here that would fit right in with the more melodic side of crust and the melodies seem to be ripped straight from the playbook from bands like From Ashes Rise and Fall of Efrafa. It's completely plausible that the Watership Down connection is creating some sort of cognitive bias, but these guys do remind me of Fall of Efrafa in a lot of ways. On their own, most parts of this album are pretty simple. The melodies and riffs are very straightforward and there are certainly no guitar gymnastics. The main melody to "Ostrakon" is as simple as it gets but is a instantly a clear winner. The rasps are very run-of-the-mill albeit well executed. The drumming is staunchly utilitarian, using extremely simple and obvious beats and never deviating from the formula.

While also generally quite simple, it is really the keyboard parts that give this album the push it needs to go from good to great. Used only sparingly, they breach the mire at all the right moments to propel the tracks to a higher level. Although often quite ambient in nature, there's a part in "Madeline and Edmund" that almost seems to be ripped right out of excellent atmospheric folk metal band Saor's sophomore album. Featuring sombre chanting to go along with the keyboards, the opening to "Cut Like Rogues" is one of the album's finest moments. Clean vocals are also used in the epic album closer "Rind of the Earth" to great effect. They have stumbled onto a great formula with the whole raw black metal with epic crust melodies thing, but it is really the more atmospheric and expansive moments that make this album shine, and this is something I hope they expand on in the future.

Barely spilling over the half hour mark, there isn't really much room for El-Ahriarah's simplistic and to-the-point sound to wear out its welcome. You're not going to like this if you're a stickler for quality production, but the rawness really works here and provides a very welcome contrast to the catchy melodies and atmospheric keyboards. There's really not much to complain about. Sure, the drumming is kind of boring, but it doesn't really take away from the album. If there's one minor gripe I have, it's that all the standout tracks are clustered towards the end of the album, with the first four songs being the least memorable (although still pretty badass, of course). El-Ahriarah has done a great job with their debut album and I'm intrigued to see where they'll take their sound from here.