UK band Edenfall have actually been around for a while and this is their third full length but were pretty much inactive since their second album in 2014 and managing to regroup in and record in 2022. But just so’s you know these are not novices… I’ve also had the pleasure of seeing singer Clare Webster’s solo project Ylva (harp, vocals) live now and then and she has just the most beautiful clear voice. Oh and this is a concept album based on Anglo-Saxon folklore, dark mythology and the wilderness.

So, you’re thinking: Band. Classically style vocals, harp, concept… must be symphonic metal or something right?

Well…

‘A Forest Of Veils’ opens up with eerie spirit like vocals, a drum beat and the sounds of a forest maybe, a dark one. A definite folk lilt to the sounds. Then the black metal riff and snarled vocals come in. It’s atmospheric, a touch of the Cradle Of Filth sound way back when and those gnarly vocals take the lead until the clean and pure female vocals rise and the melody genuinely makes the hairs on my arm stand up. This is gothic and doomy but with a fair spine of atmospheric black metal styling, a strange folk feel somehow. Piano weaves through it, other keyboards add a horror touch, the deft drumming by Marcelo Teixera pushes the riff up to meet the refrain and… Yeah this is so good. An opening track of six minutes pulled off like it’s three or four.

‘Penumbra’ again has an insistent little riff before the howls unleash. Edenfall have this knack of after the first burst raising the riff up on keyboards, enveloping the listener in the song. Here the death vocals take the lead for a while. It has a darker feel than the opener, a nice bit of gnarl and grit to anchor the melodic aspects and prevent them from floating away. It’s also when you realise that the gothic overtones are definitely rooted in doom; just wrapped in velvet and cobwebbed by a feeling of folk tales, somehow. There is some lovely guitar work here too I presume from both Rob George and Sean Brazil and a little bass showcase for TJ Higgs to fade out too.

‘Altar Of Grief’ begins in delicacy; female vocals and piano. A gentle melody, mournful but a little wistful too. The careful drumming helps build it in strength for the riff. It moves with grace until almost unnoticed the pace has overtaken you. Gnarled vocals, darkness and anger rise for a while. And yet this all moves smoothly, beautifully arranged.

‘Of Wand And Moon’ begins with a tinkling sound which whisks me back to From The Cradle To Enslave’ but the is pure doom until they flick the pace and it gallops effortlessly onwards. A sweet mixture of folk and gothic, of horror and doom and a tale of Wiccan magic. Edenfall have this unerring grasp of emotion here, a sense of awe for the land and the possibilities within and they mix the strands they play with superbly.

‘Oaken’ is a sombre, slow observation with the touch of pain in its soul. Quite, quite beautiful. ‘The Wild Hunt’ lurches awake, full of righteous anger. ‘A Wistful Reverie’ is pretty much a perfect description with lovely layered vocals and such a nice arrangement of the keyboards too.

We then get the short ‘Womb Of Winter’, an absolutely gorgeous little song. Harp and clean vocals male and female, the sound of crows. The words of natutre and the harsh reality of life.

And to close there is the epic sixteen minutes of ‘To Howl At An Orbless Sky’. With a guest appearance from a certain Mr A. Stainthorpe (a gent, and I do mean that, who appears to be so supportive of the scene). This is gorgeous doom, harsh vocals leading with the clean female backing beautifully. It effortlessly straddles the doom, the death and the gothic, the horror. A slow gasping for breath as the noose tightens. The slow, bitter end to the tragedy related throughout the album. And I defy your heart not to rise to your throat at the spoken word passage.

It’s been a long nine years to this point, a tale of travels and upheavals but it has coalesced into a huge album. Yes, at over an hour this is one long album but it is also one you need to take your time with. There are beautiful immediate melodies herein but like most of its pace you need to match your pace with it. The arrangements are excellent, the production pretty much spot on and the depth and feel of it is just… transporting.

A slow, painful, uplifting and bitter tale told with a sublime and natural hybrid of the gothic and doom and folk with a soul that dips into death and black here and there and played by a band who just seem so comfortable with the vision they have and with each other. The riffs, the drumming the sometimes extraordinary vocals.

Beautiful. It’s been a long journey but the treasure unearthed in these woods is worth it.

(8.5/10 Gizmo)

https://www.facebook.com/EdenfallMusic

https://edenfall.bandcamp.com/album/to-gaze-longer-at-the-earth