Review: Upon a Fields Whisper – Sorry For Your Loss

Style: Blackgaze, Crust Punk (Harsh vocals)
Review by: Kiernan
Country: US
Release date: 17 June, 2022

Alright, alright, I know that this isn’t your typical outing for The Progressive Subway. It’s less hour-long-epic and more 30-minute-punk infused banger, but I still think there’s a lot in here for progressive metal fans to enjoy.

For one thing, Upon a Fields Whisper does a pretty good job of melding genres here. Black metal (with a little blackgaze influence here or there), doom, punk, ambience, and more find their way onto the six tracks featured here. Additionally, there are a few more long tracks on this one than on most crust punk outings you’ll find out there. And while three six-minute long tracks doesn’t necessarily correlate to being prog metal, I think it shows an interest in stepping outside the normal box of the genre, which most certainly is progressive.

But now I’m getting ahead of myself. Who is Upon a Fields Whisper? They’re a relatively new band, formed as a solo project in 2018 by vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Bryan Ostrow. It wasn’t until the release of their 2019 self-titled EP that they eventually expanded into the four-piece they are today, consisting of bassist Laddie Savage, David Dempsey on Drums, and Josh Austin on Guitar.

Sorry For Your Loss represents a pretty solid outing from the group all around. Starting with “The Decimation Process has Begun,” after a short but sufficiently tone-setting ambient industrial passage we get our first blast of guitar…literally. It’s the type of guitar hit that sounds like the first and only shot in a western duel. After this, we get a nice building section reminiscent of an Amenra or other black metal inspired prog bands. This atmosphere is split apart for a second time by a blistering scream and introduction to one of the two drum patterns you’ll constantly hear throughout the album (but more on this later). The lyrics here, like most of the album, are fairly pessimistic, bleakly telling the story about the folly of humankind. 

After the opener, we get a much more punk inspired cut, “Fallen”. And this is where I’ll bring you back to my previous statement on the drumming. While I wasn’t going into this album thinking I was about to hear the second incarnation of Neil Peart, there are really only three types of patterns played throughout the 31-minute runtime; blast beats, a slow doom groove, and a classic punk driving pulse. Don’t let that discourage you though. “Fallen” is a good track, and since it’s the first appearance of the punk pattern, it’s not tiresome yet.

Continuing with aspects of the album that fall a little short for me, tracks 3 and 4, “The Collapse” and “Vengeance” aren’t the most inspiring. Which really is unfortunate, since there was clearly an effort to make these a centerpiece, both literally and figuratively, for the album. These two tracks flow smoothly together, and represent over a third of the Sorry For Your Loss’ runtime. And to be fair, I want to like these tracks. They’re a nice breather between the first two tracks, and last two, containing more unique song structures and a nice acoustic section at the beginning of “Vengeance”. Disappointingly, however, they also contain a weaker performance overall, particularly vocally, as Ostrow’s voice becomes a much thinner version of its raspy scream. And they don’t hit as hard because of the relatively short runtime up to get to them.

“Missed Opportunity” is really where the album picks back up, featuring my favorite set of chord changes in the pack, and a return to form for Ostrow’s vocals. The closer, “We’re Still Here” is a powerful piece, featuring the only clean vocals on the entire album, sung by Ceshi.

Overall, this was a fairly solid debut for the Colorado Springs crew. While not a landmark performance, I think there’s a good amount here for both the average crust punk enjoyer and prog metal explorer to dive into.

Recommended tracks: The Decimation Process has Begun, Missed Opportunity, We’re Still Here
Recommended for fans of: Discharge, Antisect, From Ashes Rise, Amenra
You may also like: Feral Light, Seeds in Barren Fields, Axioma
Final verdict: 6/10

Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | YouTube | Facebook | Instagram | Metal-Archives page
Label: Independent

Upon a Fields Whisper is:
– Bryan Ostrow (vocals)
– Josh Austin (guitars)
– Laddie Savage (bass)
– David Dempsey (drums)

With Guests:
– Ceshi Ramos (vocals)