Review by Vinny for Wren - Black Rain Falls (2025)

Wren is one of the most unmetal sounding band names that could be picked really. One step up from Sparrow or Dunnock I suppose but still leans heavily on the lame side of the bird world. Whilst it may not be the most threatening name in the world metal, Wren does fit the atmospheric sludge of this London four piece as they explore a vast and dense landscape across their third album, Black Rain Falls. Foraging through punishingly slow riffs, flitting between ethereal density and atmospheric ecosystems and nesting in the rafters of the solid structures of the seven tracks on offer.

Describing themselves as a ‘blackened noise band’ (at least according to the Spotify bio anyway) could not be further from the truth, as there is no noisy element to this record. The agonising pace of album highlight, ‘Toil in the Undergrowth’ is testimony to how captivating atmospheric sludge is. By the time the first riff lands we are three minutes into the track. Those hoarse and tormented vocals heralding the arrival of the track proper perfectly as that riff crashes in behind them. This album is full of Neurosis and Isis influences, and as a result had me hooked from the off. Songs feel like they are expanding even though there is little in the way of variation to suggest this is naturally the case. Any progression is deliberate and measured, feeling organic and unforced.

Tracks often end feeling like very little has happened in the way of change once the established format has been engineered, but still, I get sense of total satisfaction from the majority of what is on offer here. The interlude in the middle of the record feels a bit out of place though, even though it does in some ways introduce the dense, bassy opening of ‘Metric of Grief' nicely. Album closer ‘Scorched Hinds’ is one of the more obvious Neurosis sounding tracks, with its shifts and swells accompanied by chiming guitar notes that remind me of Kowloon Walled City. There is a lot to like in the simplicity of Black Rain Falls and it stands out as one of my happier new finds in The Fallen clan of late.