dead raven choir

My Firstborn Will Surely Be Blind

Now available on vinyl. Black metal outsider project Dead Raven Choir reconvene at the tail end of a triumphant year for Wolfmangler, whose Cooking With Wolves album managed to be at once ferocious and very musical. Similarly, this album finds Digger Smolken's cello skills applied to a fusion of folk and country song templates and trebly, bass-deprived black metal sounds. Yes, My Firstborn Will Surely Be Blind is a covers album, featuring reinterpretations of songs by the likes of Townes Van Zandt, Richard Thompson and even Neko case. You'd be doing pretty well to identify the sources without the aid of a tracklist though, it's all fairly impenetrable. Smolken's cello is always a dominant force in the mix, but you can't always necessarily discern anything so blunt as a recognisable melody in there. Even so, there is something about the idiosyncratic sonic dynamics of the group that sucks you into its rancid talons.