Released on: 8th March 2019
Fen are progressive black metal. Not in the political sense where they would be using the medium of music to shove some irreverent propaganda up your arse but in the “Yeah man, Pink Floyd was a herd of Elephants and fuck me how good is The Division Bell,” sense. But don’t quote me on that. I already have.
What is any other name though. Stone and Sea. A beautiful title for a wonderful EP. A name that inspires thoughts of decadence and endless opportunity. The three tracks presented here will be familiar to those who are acquainted with the bands’ 2016 split release with Sleepwalker and now they populate Fens’ tenth studio release. On vinyl!
Progressive in the developmental sense. And with a coarse flurry of notes crashing on the banks of uplifting chord structures it sounds like how you would expect to ask the Echo how deep the sea is atop the cliffs of Dover. What with its harsh and intimidating production spread over the mix like a local war reenactment its more lucid moments have an impact on the hoarse dynamics omnipresent on this MLP.
What it sounds like on vinyl I can only speculate but black metal and white noise go together like soup and croutons. Which like this MLP is a rather tasty suggestion towards filling an empty hole. And whatever is next on the menu from Fen is surely something to get excited about going by this wee aperitif.
7/10
