There’s a slow, mournful funeral march coming through the mists, on a still silent plain, on The Buried Storm (Prophecy Productions), the latest release by Darkher. Led by multi-instrumentalist Jayn Maiven, the album at times bears a resemblance to Neurosis or Triptykon at their most quiet and reflective. With each song centred around the vocal layering of Maiven, the instrumentation often stripped to cello and violin backing, it’s an evocative and understated musical landscape. Often bringing to mind Bat For Lashes, one that sings her siren song with a doom folk backing, this is soothing music for people who like it dark.
Opening like Gaelic or Celtic folk music with haunting, ethereal vocals and droning strings on ‘Sirens Nocturne’, there’s a cinematic quality, like after a battle in a period war movie when everything seems to be lost. A similar feeling carries through much of the album, with tracks like ‘Unbound’, ‘Where The Devil Waits’ – and perhaps most effectively – ‘The Seas’ employing very light instrumentation. On these tracks in particular, the main accompaniment to Maiven’s ghostly harmonies are violin and cellos. There are three guest cellos on this album in fact. On repeated listens, the subtitles touches, like the quivering violin on ‘The Seas’, help the tracks form their own individual identities.
Elsewhere, there are heavier passages. The album’s longest track, ‘Lowly Weep’, opens with faint percussion resembling the pounding beat of a viking ship on the distant seas. There’s a long, slow buildup, with the full sonic peaks emerging at around 04:30. This track illustrates the drifting nature of the album. Even at its heaviest moments there’s never a rush to get anywhere. The funeral march is slow and persistent.
On ‘Immortals’, the album’s next longest track, Maiven is at her most Bat For Lashes, with great layering of vocals accompanied by layered electric guitar arpeggios, before slow pounding drums and droning strings elevate the track into a heaver, hypnotic march. True to the form of the album, final track ‘Fear Not, My King’ adds just enough novel elements, like what sounds like a distant, wailing air-raid siren mid track, to keep the journey engaging.
From one point of view, the tone, tempo and style of this record stays very similar throughout, the listener may find their attention waning if their ears are seeking some striking shifts. On the other hand, with the subtle changes from one track to the next, both in melodies and instrumentation this is a very well-paced record. It’s understated, but for anyone wishing to drift in dark, ethereal waters, it can be very affecting.
Buy the album here: https://darkher-uk.bandcamp.com/album/the-buried-storm
7 / 10
TOM OSMAN