Fell Voices

This is why I generally prefer to give albums several listens before rendering a judgment . On my first listen through this album, the only thing which didn’t bore me was the drum sound, which I’ll mention later. Upon second listen, I realized that the fault lay with me. Santa Cruz, California’s Fell Voices play incredibly raw (yet utterly hypnotic) atmospheric black metal with a sizable funeral doom influence. If you zone out, it has no effect on you, and no matter how much you crank it the music always seems quiet. This LP consists of two untitled songs, each occupying an entire side of the record, which was only pressed in vinyl. Obviously, they get pretty epic, but they never lose their thick cloud of distortion.

The drum sound bears special mention because it’s probably the most emotionally effective part of this music. The bass drum is just audible, a faint heartbeat speeding up and slowing down as the music progresses, and blast beats are jarring rather than overpowering because the snare isn’t too loud. The quality of the drumming matches the quality of recording, as drummer Mike delivers some fantastic patterns and fills.

An album such as this one only works if a good atmosphere is established. This album succeeds, and each side has a different feel to it. The first feels like wandering lost through rainy winter forests, while the second assails you instantly with a deluge of drumming and despair, then takes you on a journey (complete with the sound of rain). Everything is cold, wet and fucking miserable. American readers will let me know if that’s what Santa Cruz is like; I’d have assumed it isn’t. The riffs here are simple but engaging, the (incomprehensible) vocals are haunting rather than ridiculous, and the quality of musicianship is far above average for this genre of music.

There are, of course, drawbacks to this rawness. The bass playing is excellent, but you really need to strain to hear it, and the guitar tone can feel a little thin. Often, it’s hard to tell what’s going on. There’s no question that this music is completely impenetrable.

I’ve described many of the aspects of this band’s sound, which is something I hate doing. Sure, I don’t mind acknowledging a standout performance, but in general I’d like to talk about the music and spare only a few words for the raw materials. In the case of Fell Voices, I’m having trouble describing the music. You ought to hear it for yourselves. It contains everything I’ve mentioned, and so much more.

Though I usually shudder to think of Americans involving themselves in a raw black metal project, I think Fell Voices have actually succeeded (probably by virtue of having three members instead of one). This is almost certainly the most American raw black metal I’ve ever heard, and I totally mean that as praise. If you’re one of the falses who thinks Abigail Williams are the pinnacle of black metal, you’ll hate this. If you despise everything except tr00, pure, Norwegian black metal, you’ll also hate this. If you know what the fuck this fucking genre’s about, then you’ll almost certainly have an appreciation for it. Rumor has it that they rule live, and if I’m lucky I’ll get to confirm that. Oh yeah, and they have a new record coming out very soon.

Originally written for: http://thenumberoftheblog.com/