FEN — Dustwalker (review)

Album · 2013 · Atmospheric Black Metal

4.5/5 · 2013-02-02
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Dustwalker (2013) is the third full-length album to be released by UK atmospheric black metal/blackgaze act Fen. In the couple of years since the release of Epoch (2011) Fen have split from their keyboardist Æðelwalh and drummer Theutus, and on Dustwalker have opted to continue on as a three-piece act, with Theutus being replaced by Derwydd. There are two versions of the album that have been announced, a regular CD featuring seven tracks and a limited clambox edition which features an additional bonus track.

The sound of Dustwalker is unmistakable than of Fen, although listening to the album back to back with Epoch and it’s pretty easy to take note of Æðelwalh’s absence. The direction of the band’s music remains very much unchanged for all intents and purposes but the guitars played by The Watcher take on roles within the music where previously Æðelwalh’s synth would have been utilised. I don’t see this as either a particularly good or bad thing for Fen, as the removal of a keyboardist hasn’t affected Fen’s ability to maintain their sound and it has also allowed produce a record with a bit of a different atmosphere compared to Epoch, and when you make music in the vein that Fen does I think that’s an important thing to make sure you do. The decision to not replace Æðelwalh has resulted in Dustwalker having a distinct identity next to Epoch.

Fen, for those new to the band, play typically long and drawn out songs (the shortest on Dustwalker is Reflections at 1:49 but the rest, bonus track notwithstanding, are at least past the seven minute mark) and being an integral part of the still fairly recent blackgaze explosion (blackgaze meaning a mix of black metal and shoegaze), their music tends to feature some slow sections as the band builds up their atmosphere, and influences from post-rock are evident. Clean tone guitars tend to be as commonplace within the music as the distorted rawer sounding guitar sounds that come out during the black metal sections. Spectre, the third track is for example is 10:22 minutes of Fen playing with no metal elements, much less black metal, at all until the very end when things build up into a little bit of ferocity (although to call that little bit metal is still something of a stretch in my opinion) before calming down again.

As such Dustwalker is an album which contains all the strengths and weaknesses that Epoch did, although I use the term weakness loosely. It’s an obvious acquired taste with the way the band flirts with influences from opposite ends of the musical spectrum, as evident during Hands of Dust which is calm for its first half, only to build up into one of the most intense metal sections on the entire album. But a Fen album wouldn’t be right if they didn’t do this with their music, and just like with Epoch the end result is frankly stunning so long as you have the patience for this sort of music. Dustwalker won’t reward you if all you want is hooks and cheap thrills, but if you feel like kicking back and taking in the atmosphere Fen have created, then it quickly becomes clear to me that Fen have not only done what they do best and produced one of the most interesting albums to fall under the blackgaze style, but they’ve also outdone themselves and managed to better Epoch, and produce their best album to date.

It’s a bit more accessible I think and easier to get into than either Epoch or their debut The Malediction Fields (2009) and while some may miss that distinctive sound that came from Æðelwalh’s contribution to the Fen sound I can’t help but feel that the band has perfected the atmosphere they were going for on Dustwalker. The press release accompanying my promo copy of the album describes Dustwalker as representing the “cold, sharp greys of a bleak winter’s dawn”, and that’s a description which I can identify this music with, seeing as Dustwalker is released in the winter, and as luck would have it for me as I was writing this review it is snowing outside, making Dustwalker all the more powerful an experience. While I can’t promise snow on demand for whenever you may want to give the album a spin I’m not sure it’ll ultimately matter, as in Dustwalker Fen have taken a step up from their two exceptional prior albums and given us their first masterpiece. A top tier rating is deserved and even as early as January we already have a contender for the black metal album of 2013.

98/100

(Originally written for Heavy Metal Haven (http://metaltube.freeforums.org/fen-dustwalker-t2763.html))