This is the fifth album from dark/doom rock band Wailin Storms.
The Arsonist provides the listener with 47 minutes of material to become captivated by, and by Jove is it good. Wailin Storms have created a record that blends many styles and influences into one compelling whole.
Wailin Storms specialise in feeling-rich musical landscapes, built from the ground up using a range of components. It’s an absorbing mix of southern, Gothic, doom, Americana, post-punk, and blues influences, (with touches of metal and punk), all wrapped up in a luscious dark rock wrapper.
There’s something raw and honest about this music, but it also carries something of the cinematic about it too. It feels simultaneously very real and slightly surreal, like it’s just out of kilter with the rest of reality. Think David Lynch, and you’ll get the general vibe that The Arsonist has, although it does seem to exist in its own bubble of unreality.
The Arsonist excels in its comprehensive worldbuilding, while also boasting a level of catchiness and replayability that’s impressive. The songwriting is uniformly strong. Wailin Storms intimately understand concepts such as structure, tension, space, and emotion. The songs are richly atmospheric and charismatic, and that’s putting it mildly.
The heartfelt vocals are as well-performed as everything else on this record. They drip with feeling and personality. Again, the same can be said for the rest of the music too. The point being that despite the singer’s obvious allure, Wailin Storms have the full package. From nuanced percussive depth to the expressive guitars and the deft bass, everything on The Arsonist is lovingly rendered and immaculately delivered.
Let’s state it plainly – The Arsonist is a stunningly good album. It is essential listening for anyone that enjoys music like Årabrot, Crippled Black Phoenix, Nick Cave, Messa, and Soul Savers, and could also appeal more widely, to fans of acts as diverse as Danzig, Madder Mortem, Neurosis, and more.
Wonderbox Metal 