Album Review: Wren - Black Rain Falls
Reviewed by Matthew Williams
It’s tricky to put into words how I’ve felt listening to the third record from London foursome Wren, as it’s such a complex piece of music that leaves me staggering from one emotion to another. And just when I think I’m back on track, it hits me with further feelings that I never knew existed!!
But that is the reason why “Black Rain Falls” is so damn good. I’ve listened to the promo several times, and each time I’ve started to write something, I have felt the need to erase it and start again. The band themselves describe the album as “a crystallisation of the conceptual voice-giving to natural collapse, humanity’s decline and the shadowed spectre” so bleak stuff, that immerses you in their cathartic world.
They served notice of what was to follow, with their first two single releases “Metric of Grief” and “Scorched Hinds” which was followed by a third, “Betrayal of Self”. These tracks embody the overall theme of the album, which is the shared grief of the band, which “redefined their reasons for living and playing music”. It’s a stripped down, pure raw emotive journey for the group and it allows each listener to take something personal and heart-rending away with them.
If you aren’t a quivering wreck by the end of the first track “Flowers of Earth” then you will be by the end of the 7-song album. The nuanced composition of the songs begins in earnest here, with the guitars of Chris Pickering and Owen Jones, entwined as one, locked in a battle of pain and misery, aided by the pounding given to the drums by Seb Tull. Then you feel that you are being submerged in a watery tunnel during “Toil in the Undergrowth”. The haunting bass from Mark Lotz hits me more during this song, as if it’s dragging me down into a pit of despair, but I can’t stop playing the 8-minute behemoth of a track. It’s a crushing song that is drawn out but seems over way too quickly, and for me, it’s the standout track on the album.
Sandwiched between “Betrayal…” and “Metric..” is “Cerebral Drift” a short, instrumental track, that opens the door to more misery and pain. The penultimate song is “Precede The Flint” another harrowing performance that will pierce your soul. It’s a slow burner, that builds up tension in a visceral way, before the impassioned vocal of Jones emerges from the depths to make you face your fears head on. I have that overwhelming sense that I’m being released from the darkness and guided towards a shining light, as the sombre ending of the song is saying to me “it’s ok, you can carry on now, we are with you always”. It’s just perfect.
Complex and intrusive, captivating and haunting in equal measures, this is one album that will no doubt be on many Album of the Year lists as it’s sure to capture the hearts and minds of all that listen. (That’s if your emotions are still intact at the end of it.)
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