You can feel the weight of nature pressing down on you from the very start of this, the eight album from post-black metallers Fen. Taking its cue from the album title, Elemental Part One: The Mourning Earth, you get a sense of impending turbulence coming from a place very much ancient and, well… elemental. The very forces that drive nature itself are tapped into by the band, creating a sound akin to the world falling down on you.
Such is the weight of despair and heaviness, that Fen know to tap into the more ambient and esoteric nature of post-black metal to elevate. The riffs are there, but submerged within the almost orchestral ambience. Opening track ‘Glacier’ shifts forward at a sullen pace, yet is driven by a very forward riff. The track doesn’t rely on these dynamics wholly though, and it is a wonderful shifting beast of a track. Maybe the band recognise the actual continental shifts that their music creates as the next song is called ‘Tectonic’ and you can bet your bottom dollar that’s exactly what is sounds like.
‘Tectonic’ is much more straightforward metal that the previous track and serves up some rather decent headbanging moments. ‘Massif’ on the other hand, rides in on a beautiful acoustic guitar before evolving into a folkish reverie, wrong footing you until it suddenly develops into a majestic ode, complete with gnarly black metal riffs. ‘Abyssal Plain’ builds into what becomes the highlight of the album, all soaring riffs, and cinematic sounds verging on the choral at times. ‘Barrow’ becomes something much more primal when set next to this, with its buzzing riffs tearing through the ether. A rather funky beat drives this into a galloping frenzy as the vocals seem to emit directly from the earth itself.
Final track ‘Moor’ take you on a real journey into the heart of Fen music and really is an epic ending to what has been a great album. Its peaks and troughs raise elemental emotions within you as you become one with the music. Fen’s power in creating music is that they can make you feel like you are right in the centre of it all, with its broad cinematic scope sweeping you across landscapes. ‘Moor’ is the perfect example of this and a fantastic conclusion to what is quite a stunning release. It may not be an immediate album, and repeated listens will certainly bear fruit to where Fen are coming from, but when it hits, it really does feel like the only music that matters.
