Welcome to an Infernal Visions and Rainbows in the Dark crossover! Infernal Visions is a column where I review an album and pull a tarot card, oracle, or rune called forth by said album, sharing my interpretation of the card and how I feel it relates to the music. Rainbows in the Dark features lighter, not-so-metal music. This weekend’s calling is dark folk album Beneath the Elidon Tree by Wire Worms (out now) and The Tower.
The Call: Wire Worms – Beneath the Elidon Tree
Burning tradition down and picking pieces from the ashes to construct something, new, original, and hauntingly beautiful, Wire Worms has released Beneath the Elidon Tree. Hailing from Leeds, this six-piece project combines folk, experimental noise, black metal, prog rock, ambient, doom, and more to create their unique sound. The album consists of eight tracks reimagined from Scottish border ballads, Victorian broadsides, and Anglo-Saxon prophecies. With a throughline theme of millenarianism—a desire for a new world born through the death of the old—Beneath the Elidon Tree is compelling, evocative, and enchanting.
“True Thomas,” inspired by a traditional ballad, opens with static and drone, a colossal sound that echoes out to an acoustic guitar melody and vocals. The unsettling tones remain in the background rising and falling, creating an eerie atmosphere as a marching drum beat is added. A combination of spoken vocals by Jasmin Brown and melodic vocals by Luke Carroll is heard throughout the track as it slowly picks up in tempo and vigor. Reverb takes over closing out the track fading into “All Bells in Paradise,” which then opens simply and beautifully with echoing vocals by Brown before adding in more traditional folk instrumentation. Carroll’s vocals are later introduced as well as drums and electric guitar as the track unfolds into a more metal outfit before folding back up again, slowing to folk and ending again with Brown’s vocals ringing out, coming full circle. “Infinite Delight” is a fully a cappella piece, delightfully madrigal in its performance yet dark in its lyrics.
“Kirree Fo Niaghtey” is a more atmospheric track with the tinkling of bells and drone. The vocals are especially haunting in this piece, filled with emotion and eventually breaking into anguished screams and cries as the drone and ear ringing tones play out and seamlessly bleed into “Mad Tom,” closing out the album. The finale continues where the previous left off with voices being added in until a cacophonic harmony is heard just below the reverb. The juxtaposition of sounds is impassioned and stirring, certainly leaving its mark as the final track.
Lyrically exploring themes of prophecy and madness while following the tale of Thomas the Rhymer, a 13th-century Scottish laird and reputed prophet, the emotions stirred and created in the music follow suit. The expert use of drone and experimental noise alongside the traditional folk elements is perfect and each piece is different, dynamic, and memorable. The themes are prevalent and hit quite hard making Beneath the Elidon Tree powerful and potent. Many of us are aware of the destruction around us, false prophets, and have a low constant hum of unease and dread with every new headline, hoping that as things burn a new and better tomorrow will be built over its remains. This album transcends genre and time and will stay with you long after each listen.
The Card: The Tower
Pulled upright, this major arcana card brings to mind destruction, enlightenment, and change. The Tower can point to a sudden and dramatic shift with external forces beyond control. This collapse could be of a dream, a relationship, a circumstance, or an ideal. It hints towards major change. The positive side of the card is that of release and a lifted weight of surrender. It also leads to enlightenment, seeing things illuminated in the fire of destruction. When I pull this card, I take stock of my life and see if I have noticed any cracks in any foundations. Things may be starting to crumble, hinting towards an oncoming collapse. Otherwise, if something has been causing immense stress or pressure, The Tower may indicate relief and a release in the near future. This card tends to warn of intensity to come but urges us to ask questions, reflect, and determine what to build better once the walls have fallen down. Better things are ahead, so stand strong and be open to change.
The themes of destruction and enlightenment directly correspond to the themes in Beneath the Elidon Tree. Wire Worms’s approach to creating music, deconstructing tradition and rebuilding something new, algins with this card as well. I also love the imagery of The Tower alongside the album, typically depicting a bolt of lightning striking the top of a burning white turret with figures falling. The top of the tower looks like a crown falling off. The imagery is so powerful and the symbolism fits the album perfectly.
Blessed be.
–Angela
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