Sometimes you make mistakes. I wrote a whole post about some of the mistakes I made when it came to end of year lists, and then just a month or so later made another mistake: putting A Romance With Violence by Denver’s Wayfarer at only 21 when it should have been much, much higher. Since then, it’s been one of my most listened to records, with that opening section of “The Crimson Rider (Gallows Frontier, Part 1)” still being one of the best riffs to come out in the last 10 years. So, when the chance to grab the promo for their new release American Gothic came in, I grabbed it immediately. I knew what to expect, but that’s not the same as what I got, which is a refinement of everything I loved and a masterful, complete record I guarantee will be placing much, much higher in the year of our Goat Lord, 2023.

So what’s changed, and what’s stayed the same? This is a concise record — a crisp 45 minutes, if you don’t count their excellent take on Siouxsie and the Banshees’ “Night Shift” — so gone are the epic length songs that might have dragged just a little bit previously. There’s still girth to be had: opener “The Thousand Tombs of Western Promise” and the astounding “The Cattle Thief” are seven and nine minutes, respectively. But there’s not an ounce of fat to be had here, and it makes for an incredible listening experience. Part of that is attributed to another change: the production of one Mr. Arthur Rizk. On first listen it felt like a certain thinness was permeating the record, burying the bass for a more high end gloss. A second listen yields a very different result, so chalk that up to user error. Rizk’s production is brighter, but that’s to let all the small intricacies of the riffs come through more clearly, as well as the now more prominent use of keyboards to accentuate the folk/blues/western elements that make the band stand out. Where I was initially skeptical I was now a devotee; having had a week now with the vinyl in all its warm, analog glory this is a stunner of a production job, letting all the nuance through while keeping American Gothic heavy and powerful.

And thank god for that, because there is a LOT going on throughout the album. Wayfarer have opened up their style allowing more influences to creep in, and while it’s a no-brainer I’d be gobsmacked by classic-sounding tracks like “The Thousand Tombs of Western Promise,” “The Cattle Thief” and the throat punch that is “To Enter My House Justified,” what really impressed me were the chancier, more mood-driven songs. “A High Plains Eulogy” features clean vocals and is the closest I think we’ll come to a Wayfarer “ballad,” although to be clear we’re talking more of a forlorn lament and nothing like a love song. Likewise, the somber sludge of “Reaper on the Oilfields” feels nauseous as its slide guitar and heavy reverb feel like a nightmare spreading across the plains. The vocals, again clean, are plaintive, intoning and announcing an oncoming destruction.

So your variety is present and accounted for, but when it comes to what Wayfarer do best, American Gothic has you locked down. From the rustic finger-picked opening of “The Thousand Tombs of Western Promise” you know you’re about to enter epic territory, and the way that riff opens into the marching snare that announces the song proper evokes all the dusty adventure you could want. I hesitate to use the word progressive, because this is still at its heart a foundation of black metal spring-loaded with all sorts of different genre points, and if you don’t believe me the double kick about two minutes in will silence your doubts. That foundation is rockier and rockier, and the roots of American metal take hold and shatter the flooring, as they do on “The Cattle Thief” which at nine minutes is the longest track on the record and could have been even longer for me. I don’t know an extreme band right now who nails song openers like Wayfarer does: “To Enter My House Justified” has another killer opening, bursting forth into a gallop of great passages and anthemic breaks that make you want to bang your head after throwing your hat in the air.

By the time we come to the slower drawls of “Black Plumes Over God’s Country” and the mighty closer “False Constellation” (released as a single) it’s readily apparent the three years Wayfarer spent crafting American Gothic were put to great use. This is evolution and refinement of the highest order, sacrificing none of the power and fury of early releases and instead adding new colors to the canvas that paint an immense portrait worthy of an album name shared by a certain revered painting by the late, great Grant Wood.

— Chris

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American Gothic is available now on Profound Lore. For more information on Wayfarer, check out their Facebook and Instagram pages.