Wayfarer – American Gothic (Review)

This is the fifth album from US black metal band Wayfarer.

After such a strong run of albums – 2014’s Children of the Iron Age, 2016’s Old Souls, 2018’s World’s Blood, and 2020’s A Romance with Violence – expectations are high for American Gothic.

Don’t worry, Wayfarer meet these lofty expectations with ease.

Continuing the journey that Wayfarer embarked upon many moons ago, American Gothic expertly mixes Americana and folk into the band’s black metal, to create a very expressive form of extremity.

With music that’s as bleak as a parched landscape, yet as rich as the experiences that can be had within it, Wayfarer’s new album is a remarkable effort. Solidifying the band’s considerable strengths up to this point, while also adding a few more, (such as the use of clean singing and a greater integration of folk elements and melodies into the whole), American Gothic delivers a mastercrafted vision of darkly atmospheric folk-enriched black metal.

Parts of the songs are as aggressive and harsh as the environment they portray, but in a similar vein are also shot through with moments of beauty and intrigue. Wayfarer paint vivid portraits using well-selected blackened materials that are both expansive and intimate. American Gothic is at the zenith of Wayfarer’s art so far, realising their most cohesive, individual, and fully formed vision for their music yet. The black metal, folk elements, and Americana influences are now completely entwined, and you can no longer separate any part of the music without losing its holistic impact.

American Gothic is a layered and deeply expressive album that takes the listener on an evocative journey into Wayfarer’s accomplished world.

Essential listening.