Chrome Waves released their latest album Earth Will Shed Its Skin in April of this year. In his review our own Andy Synn noted that we have been writing about their music at this site since 2011, following their career “with both fascination and appreciation aplenty over the years.”
What Andy found particularly fascinating about their latest album was “the way in which it attempts to weave the two most distinctive aspects of the band’s sound – the cathartic ‘Post-Black Metal’ side that appeals to fans of Tombs, Deafheaven, and the like, and the shoegaze-y Alt-Rock side that recalls the best of acts like Hum and Catherine Wheel – into a single, coherent whole.”
But even last April the band’s leader Jeff Wilson was already hinting that we shouldn’t expect a future continuation of that interweaving. He said this in an interview around the time of the album’s release:
“I also don’t really think we need to be/nor have shown that we should be pigeonholed into this style. There will most likely be a drastic change in sound for future albums as this whole not metal, but not quite not metal thing is starting to feel like old news. I’d rather push the extremes for the next couple LPs….
“I think we’re just always trying to do something a little different for each album, whether that be adding a new instrument, adding a new dynamic, or even taking something completely out of the mix like using no harsh vocals at all on our third album. It’s a challenge, an adventure and a requirement for myself as an ‘artist.’
“I can’t imagine being in a band who continuously puts out the same album over and over again. If we ever feel we’re doing the same thing twice, I’d rather just split up.”
We’re now going to begin learning more concretely what Wilson was telling all of us last spring. The band’s plan is to release a series of singles over the next year or so, and today we’re presenting the first of those, a song named “Father, I Wait“. As Jeff Wilson explained to us:
“After putting out at least an album’s worth of material annually over the last few years, we’re wanting to change things up going into 2024. We’ll be focusing on singles and getting back to the live stage for most of the year, delaying another LP to 2025.
“‘Father, I Wait‘ is the first in that series of songs. It’s embracing the cold, mechanical Blut Aus Nord, Mysticum vibe and having a machine like Alan Cassidy on the drums for this one only adds to the precise, clinical approach we were going for.”
As forecast, “Father, I Wait” does push the extremes. In its opening the music mysteriously and dreamily shimmers, but a cold wind begins to blow, the guitar rings a sorrowing melody, and then a storm front suddenly surges. That wailing guitar melody persists, like a stricken chime, and the bass moans, but the drums furiously thunder and the words are vented in vitriolic shrieks.
The song is an 8-minute opus, and so it changes. The drums slow and boom, tumble and crash; near-sung snarls join in; and the melody begins to levitate in melancholy splendor over the thrumming of the bass. It’s an entrancing phase, setting the stage for a grim and gritty guitar solo that slowly slithers through the cold melodic dream and the visceral rhythmic punch.
It’s easy to drift away and lose track of time, but the song’s finale harshly sets the listener’s nerves on edge, still otherworldly but considerably more frightening.
In one of Jeff Wilson‘s statements quoted above, he mentioned Chrome Waves‘ plans to spend time touring as well as releasing singles over the next year. One of those tours has already been announced, and you’ll see the details in the flyer below.
You can find the new single via the link below.
“FATHER, I WAIT”:
https://chromewaves.bandcamp.com/track/father-i-wait
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