RED HOT TRACK OF THE WEEK: WAYFARER

Song

Perdition’s Crossing

Artist

Wayfarer

Wayfarer backstory

Emerging from Denver in 2011, Wayfarer have forged a unique path in black metal. The quartet’s dense, heavily atmospheric works are cloaked in moonlit Americana, and their sound is soaked in the bloody history of the Old West.

2016’s Old Souls was the breakthrough.

And since then, they’ve enthralled the extreme metal scene with songs such as Animal Crown and False Constellation.

Indeed, the quartet’s fifth opus, American Gothic, was named our Black Metal Album Of 2023. “Caked in the dust of the old American frontier… and haunted by the ghosts of long-forgotten prospectors and rapacious oilmen” was how we described it.

American Gothic’s follow-up, Riders Of The Setting Sun, will soon be upon us.

The first taste of it is Perdition’s Crossing, which sees the band team up with singer David Eugene Edwards, of fellow Colorado act Wovenhand.

The limited 12″ maxi-single of Perdition’s Crossing includes artwork by graphic novelist Julian Brier, a remix by Ben Chisholm of Chelsea Wolfe (who also produced the forthcoming album) and a field recording.

In the band’s own words

“We have long walked a path that was very much informed by Denver Sound legends like 16 Horsepower and Wovenhand, among many others.

“To work alongside someone like David Eugene Edwards is not only a bit of a dream come true for us, but also a perfect way for us to start down new roads of the Wayfarer sound that are being fleshed out.

“We are excited for this collaboration to finally see the light of day.”

The verdict on Perdition’s Crossing

Wayfarer’s collaboration with David Eugene Edwards was written in the stars.

It simply had to happen.

Edwards’ deep, dream-like melodies drift across a widescreen soundscape, where desolation and damnation beckon, and hell hounds prowl just out of picture. He’s the perfect narrator, his tone shimmering in the Colorado heat.

Expecting a touch of black metal here? You’ll be disappointed: Wayfarer embrace of dirt trail Americana is absolute, in a song akin to 2020’s Fire & Gold or 2023’s A High Plains Eulogy.