The waves from below continue to wake the sleeping senses inherited from aeons past as we find Uppsala, Sweden-based black metal trio FAYENNE hearkening the call of Levithan on this debut full-length album. The more twisted the direction taken on ‘The Calling from the Depth‘ the more impressive their work is as the realization of a long-developed first draft. In the process of quickly coursing through its gnarled but rarely congested dynamic their work reveals elements of melodic black metal and even some progressive and thrashing nodules which reflect broader personal taste funneled into the ever-illustrative language of black metal.

Fayenne formed back in 2015 as guitarist/vocalist Andréa Hillgren had been loosely working on a solo black metal project before recruiting two other acquaintances and producing a two-song self titled demo tape circa 2018 which was then only given to select individuals. The name of the band, a feminine version of “Fayenivol” a pre-Christian (Old Swedish?) word for the devil, aligns with ethos centered on liberation as well as world-building within fantastical surreal Eldritch imagery. While I couldn’t source songs from their first demo the second tape (‘Ancient Womb of Mercury‘, 2019) from these folks notably showcased a controlled, neatly arranged yet eerily sauntering form of black metal not unlike that of Temisto‘s debut albeit far more chill in its pacing. That sound directly translates to what we find on this debut LP for the most part as we find their work increasingly refined toward a Swedish melodic black/death metal inspired hand.

Themed by its meditations upon Leviathan as a figure of creation and destruction ‘The Calling from the Depth‘ pulls from both past and more recent songcraft in Fayenne‘s history (sans any pieces from ‘Ancient Womb of Mercury‘) in gathering an experience which best represents their complete journey to full-length readiness. This finds their debut brief, largely song-focused yet all the more potent in most of its strikes yet at times uneven in its concurrent profundity. The step from opener “Waters of Ancient Blood” with its harmonically rich riffcraft and melodic black streaming consciousness into “Serpents Order”, a rawed and riled rattling offers a clear enough example of diverging levels of detail in composition which share the same sense of dynamic. Both songs offer some manner of thoughtful refrain within their forward-trampling movement much in the way that early 90’s Swedish black metal would treat transitional riff variations.

“Black Haze” and later on “Primordial Surface” appear to act as the most clear conduit for the sort of wandering n’ thrashing (later) Morbus Chron-esque veering of Fayenne‘s earlier material here whereas the bulk of ‘The Calling from the Depth‘ eases into what resembles early melodic black metal. Their approach is sure to impress fans of Watain as much as mid-era Dissection to some degree in terms of movement and the semi-melodic guitar driven intricacies available but none of it has as deep a rooting in classic heavy metal structures. While I’d found their interest in snaking dual-rhythm guitar arrangements and atmospheric black metal swells inspired enough the choice to ease up on their thrashing and wandering muse doesn’t fully live up to the promise of their previous demo/EP beyond a few inspired, left-field pieces.

Although the shrieking quality of Hillgren‘s vocal occasionally lacks the variety of expression these songs call for and their bass guitar tone is a bit plain for my own taste Fayenne‘s debut nonetheless sports a great deal of personality within increasingly honed work. A great deal of my admiration for the trio’s craft admittedly centers around the tradition(s) that’ve inspired ‘The Calling from the Depth‘ and its guitar-driven sound yet the result is infectious if not challenging, a sinister and cerebrally writ black metal album which is recognizable in stature but not so typical. A moderately high recommendation.

---