Fer De Lance – The Hyperborean (Double Black LP)

Listening to the debut full-length from Chicago’s Fer de Lance is akin to witnessing the epic origin story for the US interpretation of Germany’s Atlantean Kodex, but with a healthier pinch of rawness to give the full journey an even more…battle-scarred character. And yes, being battle-scarred absolutely does necessitate dents and vulnerabilities. The bulk of the album underscores a slower, doomier atmosphere—the rousing “The Mariner” that opens the affair, for example, or the haunting one-two punch of “Sirens” and “Northern Skies,” plus the wonderfully majestic closing title track. That doom is packed to the rafters with gripping emotion, hefty and mellow climes shifting back and forth like rolling waves, loads of lofty melody, and sudden bursts of surprisingly grim snarls or bright, flying leads. Aggression is far from ignored, though, as the front and back half are both punctuated by true bangers—the roiling “Arctic Winds,” which throws down the record’s most sensational fiery lead, and “Ad Bestias,” a walloper that puts a tidy soundtrack to the snuggly Roman tradition of condemning hapless suckers to arena trials judged by violent lions,

Track List