Wayfarer gallop into Atlanta
Written by Scott Belzer | May 2nd, 2024
There are plenty of bands specializing in heavy music that laments the state of the country. From punk anthems to extreme metal, there’s a song out there calling out America’s bullshit. And who can blame them? It stinks! Every day, we’re inundated with corruption, oppression, and subjugation inside and outside our borders. We’ve reached the point where some may even call it low-hanging fruit for subject matter. It’s a goddamn given.
When bands like Wayfarer make an album exploring this theme, however, you don’t write it off. You sit your ass down and listen.
The Denver four-piece has been writing dust-laden dirges about the American frontier—and its consequences—since 2011. The band’s output across five full-lengths—Children of the Iron Age, Old Souls, World’s Blood, A Romance with Violence, and American Gothic—has remained consistently honest about its feelings toward the idea of the American Dream, with the latter (one of 2023’s best) planting a firm cross at its grave. Each song weaves tales drenched in rye whiskey, scented with gun smoke, black coffee, hand-rolled tobacco, and blood-drenched railroad spikes. It’s brooding, atmospheric metal by way of Cormac McCarthy’s Blood Meridian and S. Craig Zahler’s Bone Tomahawk.
And where those tales confront their reader/viewer with shocking depictions of yes-that-actually-happened-violence, on American Gothic, Wayfarer haunts their listeners with long, dynamic tales from the perspective of ghosts lured by “house on the hill” rhetoric. Where many songwriters and musicians may clumsily execute that message—or go straight for the confrontational gut punch—vocalist/guitarist Shane McCarthy uses a combination of poetry and near-academic historical understanding to evoke feelings of loss and disillusion. The album’s opener (which may be the best song title I’ve ever heard), “The Thousand Tombs of Western Promise,” clearly sets the stage for what you’re getting into on the rest of the album:
“Within the land of opportunity
A thousand tombs await
A toast to thee, oh captains of industry
It was always you,
You always held our fate”
On other tracks, like “To Enter My House Justified,” “A High Plains Eulogy,” “Black Plumes Over God’s Country,” and “False Constellations,” (this is almost the entirety of the eight-track album, y’all) Wayfarer make it clear that our country is founded—and run—by flim-flam men, snake-oil salesmen, brute strength and arbiters of industry. It may be a grim outlook, but the accompanying swells, acoustic revelries, thunderous tones and galloping (maybe trudging) rhythms of Wayfarer’s expertly crafted melodies awaken a sense of rebellious defiance more than melancholy. Seeing as the band sports members of Blood Incantation and Stormkeep—more bands specializing in atmospheric, emotive, fire-evoking metal—this should come as no surprise. You’re not ready to put out the campfire by the time American Gothic ends. You’re ready to gather a posse and riot.
What’s the answer when the American Dream is, and has always been a lie? How do you come to terms with that acknowledgment? How do you move forward as a nation? The answers are some of the most important and elusive of our time. But you need confrontational art like Wayfarer’s American Gothic to at least arrive at a starting point. Why not bang your head in the process?
Wayfarer is playing a stacked lineup including Philly’s heavy metal act Sonja, self-professed Australian death metal entity Altars, and DC-bred brutal death metallers Goetia on Friday, May 10 at Boggs Social & Supply.
I’ve already written about Sonja and Goetia at length, so if you’re so inclined, I’d check out those pieces. Suffice it to say, those bands kick ass.
Altars also kicks ass, but in a wholly different way. The Aussie trio sling brutal riffs drenched in dissonance that change tempo faster than a caffeine-injected man with no rhythm—except, y’know, Altars has rhythm. Altars’ sound is layered in complexity and groove that pummels listeners with technical prowess and chaotic song structures. When listening to 2022’s Ascetic Reflection, you’ll be pulled up, down, and around town before you’re allowed to settle. The closest comparison I can think of band-wise is something akin to Thantifaxath or Sunless—but Altars is doing its own thing, man. Just enjoy seeing three people play it live, it’s sure to be a tour-de-force.
-Scott Belzer
Wayfarer, Sonja, Altars, and Goetia pull up to Atlanta at Boggs on Friday, May 10th – Tickets are on sale now.