Review by UnhinderedbyTalent for Fen - Monuments to Absence (2023)

My initial listens to Monuments to Absence saw me struggling to come to terms with the aggressive and pummeling assault that presented itself upon the likes of Scouring Ignorance which opens the album in such a furious fashion. At the same time, I found myself somewhat at odds with the cleaner vocal sections that permeated the album with what I initially deemed to be a near uncomfortable abundance. It had been a while since I had span Winter, which had impressed me enough to warrant a CD purchase when that got released back in 2017, and I could not recall the band being this aggressive sounding for some odd reason.

Having now worked my way through several listens, I now am much more at peace with what I am hearing. This is mainly because that additional listening has led to me to understand just how complete an experience Monuments to Absence is. Despite its inherent violence, there is an underlying benign attentiveness to the foundations of some of the tracks that stray away from any common black metal ethics and instead are more comfortable to root the playing in a post-metal or even post-rock mentality. Listen to the bass and the percussion at times and they play indie/alternative passages also. I have had to listen hard to pick this up, but this is one of the true successes of this album for me, it rewards with repeated visits.

The scathing black metal that sits atop this unexpected restraint is much less subtle of course (otherwise I doubt I would be reviewing this release). The punishing drums and grim vocals serve as ample reminder of where Fen’s heart lies when it comes to the driving force behind the band, it is just that there is plenty of room on this album to accommodate so much more musical direction as well. Monuments to Absence is a big sounding record, albeit one that never quite achieves a Drudkh level of expansiveness. It still successfully marries the intensity of black metal with the relentless beauty of nature though and steers the listener down some different avenues of exploration.

I still cannot get on with those cleaner vocals though. They are more like pagan chants as opposed to any heartfelt crooning, yet they somehow miss out on feeling like they have any relevance to what is going on around them. This, coupled with a slightly longer than ideal runtime keeps the record away from the top mark range. However, this is still a great record and one that I sense will receive many repeat visits in the coming weeks and months.