Frayle - 1692 (2020)^{Release ID: 16985}

The debut album from Clevland's Frayle is an odd listen. On one hand, I do enjoy the overall soundscape of 1692, the dreamy, doomgaze atmosphere is executed quite well and the ethereal vocal timbre of Gwyn Strang only emphasize this style. The dirge songwriting can become a little boring at times, but I think that is an general issue with doom metal as a whole. Either way, on this record the lack of rhythmic variety does cause some of the tunes to blend together after a couple listens.

This album major downside however is just how safe it sounds. While the record is pretty, it is lacking in true grit. I guess that is maybe part of this albums appeal, with its occult and anti-religious themes, but even then, the album can be a little dull. Songs like "Darker Than Black" and "Burn" have decent hooks, but some songs like "Godless" just run like a monotonous drone with no sense of direction. Maybe that makes the albums biggest issue the pacing? That sounds about right! The pacing of 1692 is a mixed bag, starting off fairly well with "1692", then adding harsh vocals on "God of No Faith" that don't flatter this style of doom metal, then a couple decent hooks and then record drones to its end. For an album that's only thirty-seven minutes, that kind of pacing is a monster problem. 

Might be worth checking out if your curious for some doomgaze, but there are certainly better options.

Best Songs: 1692, Darker Than Black, Burn

Frayle's debut full-length album comes two years after the four-track The White Witch EP introduced the band to metal audiences worldwide. That ep's inclusion of a Portishead cover may have given some early indication of the direction the band wanted to go in.
The album starts off in pretty good shape, after a short intro, with the title track, 1692. It's riffs are huge, slow and cavernous as a marked contrast to Gwyn Strang's light and ethereal vocal style and this is a belter of a track. God of No Faith, however, seems a bit misguided in it's use of melo-death vocals which sound horribly out of place here, in what is otherwise a strong track. The rest of the album is pretty good, varying from hulking doom to trip-hop influenced Doomgaze of a kind that may be an attempt to woo a wider audience to the band's sound.
Overall, despite a couple of issues such as the aforementioned God of No Faith and the fact that Gwyn Strang's vocals are sometimes a little too sweet-sounding, I would hail the album a success and a bit of a step up from the EP.