If you followed the Phillipstown, NY-based enigmatic duo Gorsedd FM since their meandering, depressive black metal debut, on down the winding, serpentine way through their electro- and neo-folk-heavy releases and stuck around even after their mostly instrumental acoustic guitar EP, even you stalwart fans of this sincere yet elusive two-piece, if you’ve kept up through all of that you should almost see The Promise of Rot coming. I say almost because there’s really no preparing for these 11 tracks.
After enough releases to certainly earn the qualifier “prolific,” each of which harbors at least one true, undeniable jam, good for almost any playlist—maybe don’t put on anything from Dymchwel if the person’s not into self-loathing purgatorial black metal. But at the ever-bared heart of Gorsedd FM is unbound beauty. It’s how the enigmatic duo suffuses this sunset-hued luster into their alternately post-punk, neo-folk and post-black metal tracks that ultimately makes this ambitious, technicolor genre-mixer of an album. The Promise of Rot is streaming below. Open your heart to its brilliant indifference.
“Gorsedd FM requires total spiritual vacation!” writes the band. “Please do not expect to have any desires satisfied, relations nurtured, or hopes redeemed for the duration of this album; this is ghost music for frozen hearts and dead leaves.”
The Promise to Rot
The Promise of Rot is out today on LP, CD and cassette from, respectively, Death Shadow, Esfinge de la Calavera and Boul God. Get the digital straight from Gorsedd FM themselves.
