It seems an age since the last Wren album and that got me thinking about time. For a metaphor about time I always remember those late 90s Guinness adverts which embraced the “Good things come to those who wait” tagline. Black Rain Falls, the third album from the London post-metal sludgers, is my version of the Hawian surfer overcoming a tsunamic wave and over seven tracks that metaphor carries more than just a tale about the passing of time. Commemorating the loss of a close friend to suicide through the pandemic, Black Rain Falls pulses with pain, anger and catharsis. Over four years since the stunning Groundswells, here the band takes another great leap forward without losing any of its identity. This is not a happy listen, it’s not got a feeling of hope but the weight that is unburdened and the way it is delivered is a beautiful piece of musical mastery.
The heft of the album sits in post-metal but there are so many flourishes of other genres whilst being delivered in an impressively cohesive manner. ‘Flowers Of Earth’ has an environment of Celestial era ISIS to it while ‘Toil In The Undergrowth’ has a bit of Sumac and Kollapse angular noise. It is wondrous how dissonance is given a warmth on Black Rain Falls and ‘Metric Of Grief’ stirs feelings of Big|Brave without ever treading on any toes. Even harsher is ‘Betrayal Of The Self’ which could sit in between Still and Altar of Plagues if pulled more in the way of post-metal. While that paragraph is a lazy way of trying to link the songs to familiar sounds, none of those bands remain as the after taste of experiencing the album. This is undoubtedly Wren and nothing sounds quite like this.
The emotional effects of grief and loss, as well as having had to cancel numerous tours and shows at the last minute comes through clearly in the gloomy atmosphere. Vocally the delivery sits between a scream and a shout which mixed with the doom and sludge is a fairly unique way to express yourself in this genre. As well as an overwhelming weight there is also plenty of space, often the pace feels slow with minimal guitar intervention and slower drumming but at other moments that is used as a base to then explode. ‘Precede The Flint’ is one of the finest examples of that as the combination of drums and bass lead off in a near blasting section which pulls the guitar riffing with it.
The blend of everything put into this album is measured beautifully. There is enough darkness to pull the listener in and enough release to allow the pain to be relieved. The dark overshadows the light but the musicians are so skilled, the songs written and executed so well, with recording and production absolutely spot on that the atmosphere envelopes from first second to last in a show of perfection without suffocation. I can’t stop enthusing about the wealth of great and varied bands in the UK right now and Black Rain Falls again establishes Wren as one of my favourites. May this album have set their demons free as it has surely healed some of mine.
