Fauns – Surcease (EP)
Release Date: 5th May 2023
Label: Self Released
Bandcamp
Genre: Doom, Death Doom, Post-Metal.
FFO: Inter Arma, October Tide, Vainaja, Swallow the Sun, Isis, Cult of Luna, Thou.
Review By: Carlos Tirado
This might be an unpopular opinion, but I tend to think that an EP is either material that wasn’t good enough for an album, or leftovers that didn’t seem to fit anywhere else. I can easily remember the ones I love, though. Dream Theatre’s A Change of Season, Meshuggah’s I, or Swallow the Suns’ A Plague of Butterflies. Those are my favourite EPs. Despite my scepticism, I decided to give a change to Fauns’ Surcease. They’re officially a Doom/Post-Metal band from New Orleans.
The first thing that I noticed was that Surcease sounded straight out of Finland, so in practice a Death/Doom EP. I never imagined that warm, party-driven, and colourful New Orleans could produce a band that would fit best at a local gig in Jyväskylä (have fun pronouncing that one right!). The promo of this EP promised some decadent and apocalyptic scenarios that would reflect our current times. You can understand that my expectations were set up high. The opening track, Fault & Falter, takes its time to set the mood by slowly fading riffs in. It’s a promising start that becomes even more promising when the guitar tone starts to settle in. It’s heavy, dense, consistent, but remains melodic. The overall sound of Surcease is one where October Tide’s melodic approach, meets Obscure Sphinx/Cult of Luna distortion style. However, Fault & Falter has an obnoxious voice-over in the middle that takes me away from the action. I understand that the riff in that section is minimalist, but another melodic layer could’ve had a stronger effect on the listener. Instead, we get someone dramatically reading deep and depressing words. Perhaps this works for you, but to me feels a bit pretentious and a missed opportunity overall. Drop that section and you have an amazing track.
Ashen is the more active song of the two. It keeps you engaged from beginning to end. This is the main event of the EP. Sad riff after sad riff, Ashen is full of hooks and ideas that totally made my head bang. This song has tighter writing than the first one, since it’s shorter and more focused. I’d even dare to say, I was left wishing for another song, since Ashen’s end feels abrupt, but that only makes me want to revisit the track again.
The production fits the music well. It has a level of dynamics that I appreciate because Doom can sometimes feel as if it was recorded in a toilet shower, and Death Metal can feel compressed to death (no pun intended). Surcease sounds just right! Both songs fade in and fade out with patience, which lets the atmosphere sink in. More than smashing your face for attention, Surcease lingers slowly into your mind. Fauns is not covering new ground in this EP, but what they do is an emotional journey that, regardless of its shortcomings, I believe many of us should take. It’s a great soundtrack for a dark early morning in the metro, and I’d love to see them expanding their ambitions in a full-length album.
(3 / 5)
