Style: avant-garde black metal (harsh vocals)
Recommended for fans of: Liturgy, Ulver, Zeal & Ardor, Fire-Toolz, Sadness
Review by: Andy
Country: United States-WI
Release date: 7 April, 2023
The supposedly immutable can change. Cameron Davis, the entity behind the charmingly weird avant-black metal band Cicada the Burrower, writes Blight Witch Regalia reborn in her true gender. The album stands as a testament to what she lost and as a vulnerable exploration of feeling fully alive, now free in her identity. The flickering synths and trippy lo-fi yet organic production usher in a palette of new emotions to aurally paint with, so does the fresh take on black metal transfer the profound emotions that Davis seeks to relay?
Kind of? The production quality, very much in line with other contemporary experimental black metal acts like Old Nick or Wreche, conveys a sense of ephemerality throughout the album, fittingly so as even unchangeable constructs melt away. On tracks like “Fairy Lights” and “It Was a Mistake,” achingly nostalgic textures reminiscent of blackgaze titans Sadness fight to the surface against the blackened wails. These moments mourn the death of what was, but suddenly, a track like “Aries, You Ripped the Child Out of Me” evocatively drives forward with a more involved drum part to carve the nostalgia away. The tension between dichotomies define Cicada the Burrower’s sound.
The contrasts throughout tell a strong story of inner turmoil; the feelings of loss and excitement seep through. Yet I never fully buy into the emotions on display. The album shows me its best hand on the first song, the title track, and after that Blight Witch Regalia loses me more and more even across a tight, half-hour runtime. The jazzy horns and trip-hop beats of the first track really make it seem like Cicada the Burrower will break from the modern pitfall of raw-ish experimental black metal into a more aesthetically maximalist style, yet the crackling synths and restrained electronica entertain only briefly; instead, this is the black metal equivalent of lo-fi study beats when the black metal is on. However, the large swaths of the album without blast beats or harsh vocals render it as lo-fi study beats, especially as the drums have no punch. They are supremely weak for a metal album and sound more like Pink Pantheress (even my girlfriend agrees) than I ever want my metal to ever. The other bright, poppy elements will swing the album out of reach for lots of metal fans, yet their inclusion doesn’t bother me. Rather, their interactions with the more metallic moments feel forced. They don’t amplify each other but distract in a slightly noisy mess like Gonemage.
I hate to tear apart such an emotionally important album for an artist as Blight Witch Regalia is to Davis, but the songwriting and production genuinely don’t offer much to praise outside of a couple segments that break the mold. Otherwise, the emotional tension that should be here is never fully realized, as one would expect: for example, in a crescendo or sublime moment. Perhaps concluding with the album still pensively figuring out its identity is intentional, but I want the freedom, the reconciliation of gender and genre, to pack a bigger punch. I want a huge swell of tremolo picking and blast beats. Instead, we’re left with a shell of trend-following experimental black metal, failing to communicate emotion to me as well as I desire.
Recommended tracks: Blight Witch Regalia, It Was a Mistake
You may also like: Wreche, Contemplation, Gonemage, Old Nick, Unreqvited, Bríi
Final verdict: 4/10
Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Facebook | Instagram | Metal-Archives page
Label: Blue Bedroom Records – Bandcamp | Facebook
Cicada the Burrower is:
– Cameron Davis (everything)
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