One of the perks with enjoying long established musical styles like black metal is getting a constant stream of fresh material that do a solid job of doing the thing. One look at the giant purple tower (get your mind out of the gutter) on the cover of Wraithfyre‘s Of Fell Peaks and Haunted Chasms was enough to let me know that’s what I had. This surely had to be an homage to frostbitten 90s melodic black metal and given it came from Tom O’Dell (Battle Born, Dwarrowdelf), I was sure it would be solid.
The atmospheric synth intro and tremolo melodies of “Fallen Before Their Blazing Altar” shows that O’Dell understands the brief. Wraithfyre‘s sound is a cocktail of black metal influences. Take the tortured melodies of Dissection and the brooding atmosphere of Emperor, shake them together with a guitar-friendly production, and then serve with the bombast of Dimmu Borgir to garnish. Obviously this is served over ice. Lots and lots of ice. Wraithfyre is aiming for that old school black metal aesthetic after all. Yet like many a cocktail, once you get past the drama Of Feel Peaks and Haunted Chasms is a tad unbalanced and over-sweet. The enthusiasm I felt at the first songs drifted away over the album’s course to be replaced by a longing for a little constructive savagery. Wraithfyre win me back towards the end of Of Fell Peaks and Haunted Chasms, but that’s more with the deathdoom influences than the black metal. The warm emotional Insomnium-esque riffs at the end of “Eternal Pyres from Beyond the Void” and the lurch of “Dark Souls Devoured” aren’t classic black metal, but they do provide a much needed punch.
There’ll be plenty of fans for Wraithfyre‘s approach to paying homage to the genre. They provide all the ominous tremolo and sinister synths you could ask for. Yet while O’Dell has erected a mighty seeming purple tower, to me this lacks the essential anger of the original and where Wraithfyre touch greatness is where they travel different paths. Of Fell Peaks and Haunted Chasms is decent listening for black metal fans, but I hope it’s the start of O’Dell building something of his own in this realm rather than continuing to pay homage to the fell peaks and purple castle.
