It seems that in the past year the number of new Atmospheric Black Metal bands has been through the roof. Or rather, it feels that the term Atmospheric Black metal can be rather broadly applied and covers many different bands with distinct musical formulas. With such a massive influx of bands it can be hard to find the acts that stand out. Luckily, labels such as Northern Silence Productions have specialized in the genre, and one of their most promising artists is the Swedish Faidra. The one-man band impressed in 2020 with their debut ‘Six Voices Inside’, and immediately commenced work on the follow-up, which was releasing towards the end of 2023.
As soon as the first tones of ‘The leavening Rot’ have passed through the speakers it becomes clear that Faidra has kept most of its musical formula intact on their sophomore record. The opener of ‘Militant : Penitent : Triumphant’ opts for that same midtempo Atmospheric Black Metal where razorsharp tremolopicking guitar riffs dictate the melodies, snarling shrieks convey the lyrical stories and ambient keyboard accents elevate the music to outer spheres. The beauty of the music of Faidra is in the simplicity. Riffs and melodies are to the point and highly memorable, and the artist behind the band knows precisely how to vary just a few riffs within each song to make them recognizable and distinguishable without them being bogged down in needless complexity. Sometimes subtle changes in drum rhythms, such as towards the end of ‘Halo of Ashes’, add just the right amount of variation to enhance the accompanying straightforward beauty of the strumming melody. So, despite that all six songs are around seven minutes or longer, at no point does the album feel too long or lost. Instead, the Atmospheric Black Metal is soothing and hypnotizing and begs for repeated listens.
Sometimes, more of the same thing really is strictly a good thing. That ‘Militant : Penitent : Triumphant’ follows largely in the same footsteps of the debut makes total sense. Especially since Faidra has taken small but significant steps in perfecting their formula. Tracks like ‘The Leavening Rot’ and ‘Mother Acherontia’ easily count amongst the band’s highlights, making Faidra’s most recent record a triumphant return and highly recommended Atmospheric Black Metal album.
