Calufrax – Faeries Dancing in a Ring [EP]

This one’s rather peculiar. A sideproject of Peon, guitarist in the Canadian band Dractus. It’s the 9th release by this project. But whereas Dractus is more straight forward Black Metal, Calufrax from Toronto sports an evil punkish Rock vibe like Harlot’s Nest from Australia (minus the piano) and a Pagan/folklore LOTR atmosphere on this tape.

Themes about trolls, elves or fantasy battles have never been my thing to begin with but Peon manages to present a dark atmosphere. Supposedly composed on bass guitar? It’s raw lofi Black Metal with a few ambient parts. The vocals are one time in your face, the other time they sound distant and the overall production is adequate. The substantial track is the fourth, ‘Eyes of Fire’.

I don’t know whether this is tongue in cheek or a serious endeavor for a niche audience/alternative scene. It’s primarily a solo thing led by Peon (also known as Grimnaake in earlier works). The name “Calufrax” is a deep-cut reference to a planet from a 1978 Doctor Who episode written by Douglas Adams, which adds a layer of sci-fi mystique to the project’s identity. Still I kinda liked it.

4 Tracks and a mere 9 minutes of playing, yet a lot happens in that time. This tape can be obtained through Grime Stone Records.