FEN — Dustwalker (review)

Album · 2013 · Atmospheric Black Metal

2/5 · 2013-01-15
Phonebook Eater

4/10

An unfortunate, missed attempt to evolve Fen's sound.

Fen is an English Black Metal band, and Dustwalker is their third full length album, the follow up to the beautiful and emotional Epoch, most definitely one of the most unique and precious albums of 2011. However, listening to Dustwalker was an immense disappointment; it looks like the band has stepped down to being an average Black Metal band that uses reverb and atmosphere as nothing but a pretentious gimmick.

Although the production remains more or less similar to the band's previous works, the really good musicianship persists, and there still is a progressive attitude in terms of song structure, the band has lost the most important thing on their way to accomplishing Dustwalker: good, memorable songwriting. None of the songs have that touching beauty that embraced so many spots of Epoch, despite a few nice, gentle guitar passages and a few pleasantly thick atmospheres. The melodies are way too generally written to be memorable, and as a result boredom dominates the listener easily.

The song that stands out the most is "Hands Of Dust", which boasts a beautiful first half that reminds of some moments from the band's previous album, and a decent second half that goes full-on aggression. The following track, "Spectre", tries to repeat the same formula but doesn't feel as effective, because of the songwriting. After an interesting interlude diving the seven tracks into two different parts, songs that are part of the latter part of the album are incredibly weak in terms of melodic passages and although the band's execution is still very good, there really isn't much to execute that will linger in the listener's head.

On a personal point of view, Dustwalker is much of a disappointment, considering how of a great impression Fen did to me two years ago with Epoch; such a good one in fact that I'll certainly continue to follow this band, regardless of this decline of theirs. Hopefully, it's just a brief parenthesis of their career.

more than 2 years ago
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adg211288 wrote:

more than 2 years ago

I've only heard this one the once so far. Going to try and get it reviewed this week though since I recently revisited their first two albums (actually picked up Epoch pretty cheap on CD having had a promo all this time). First impressions were quite high, although it seemed very typical Fen. Maybe differences will become more apparent now I've listened to the other albums again.

Phonebook Eater wrote:

more than 2 years ago

Thank you guys, fixed that. I just can't find a song here that sticks with me, and to me that is the most important thing to accomplish when writing a song/album (duh). I have to be harsh. b
But of course, it's a matter of opinion.

Kustin wrote:

more than 2 years ago

Started checking out Fen after listening to Epoch digging a couple of songs from there. Dustwalker seems to be a bit more accessible compared to Epoch but is gonna take some more listens to let the tracks sink in. I actually enjoy the song "Spectre", due to me being fond of such atmosphere and build-ups that contribute to the songs. No songs grip me yet as much as Epoch had with either "The Gibbet Elms" and "Half-Light Eternal", but I hope for that to change after another listening round or so... Not so bad album, either way.

UMUR wrote:

more than 2 years ago

On the topic of the actual review, I was a bit disappointed about the new synthless direction of the band´s sound, but I´ve grown to appreciate the album. It´s not as great as "Epoch" is, but still very good IMO...

UMUR wrote:

more than 2 years ago

Yeah I´d definitely consider editing that...I´ve once done the same in a Procol Harum review on PA and boy was I in trouble :-)...

adg211288 wrote:

more than 2 years ago

Fen is from the UK, not the USA.