Some albums have an uncanny ability to quickly etch themselves on your soul, delivering an adrenaline-fuelled rush of tingling elation which makes you truly glad to be alive. Alive is certainly how you will feel by the time you reach the end of Cloudscapes and Silhouettes, heart-rate elevated, blood coursing through your veins, wide-eyed with exhilaration, a surprised but passion-spent ‘bloody hell’ escaping from your lips as the final notes fade.
Mayfire have created a blistering debut album which throbs, pulses, confronts and caresses, teases and goads, yet through it all, holds you captivated, enthralled and transfixed. By the time it finishes, you will, even though pleasantly dazed and perhaps a smidge flustered, truly understand with an aching certainty the fullest, deepest and most encompassing meaning of ‘epic’.
Opening track The Fall (Track 1) sets the scene, a moody, brooding, unsettling prophetic lament giving us a glimpse of the expansive cinematic canvas to come. The atmospheric panorama makes you feel as if you are being confronted by a momentous quest, a chilling, portentous challenge:
Some say it was the overpopulation that started it all
Some say it’s just human nature.
The power. The Greed.
The never-ending reach for more.
It doesn’t matter much who was wrong or right
And the Earth was left broken
And it didn’t stop human nature
So if you ask me
The fall, it was just a matter of time
The foreboding crescendo which follows is a premonition of the journey that is to come. Silence descends. We wait with bated breath.
City of Ruins (Track 2) quickly sets the scene; a light, symphonic intro dissolves into a compelling musical full frontal, the guitar work oscillating between staccato, accentuated bursts which then flow into reverberating, extended chords; an insistent, demanding drum pulsates, driving the music forward. Above it all the vocal prowess of MJX is towering, glorious, peerless, lighting the way, leading us on, a light in the darkness.
Shadows (Track 3) confirms initial impressions. An impressive opening gambit, growling with unsettling menace eases into a beautiful oasis of melodic calm. But the power of the voice returns to pierce the illusion; a voice laden with anger, despair, lament calls across growling guitar foundations into the emptiness:
Trying to understand, Never to be the same.
Now that I have seen it, it all makes sense.
Saying you’re sorry won’t suffice this time,
Giving you another chance or never to be seen again.
Time signatures change and shift to match the mood and the pace of song; instrumental combinations weave, combine, dissipate, forming new combinations, driving the momentum forward. The magic of this album is precisely the ever-shifting textures in the soundscapes. Within the context of a song, you never hear the same thing twice. Mayfire are forging their own path, their own sound, in order to express emotional depth through the interplay of complex rhythms, sophisticated melodies, intricate changes of tempo and shuddering transitions.
The title track brings even greater contrasts. A discordant, jarring opening outburst gives way to the exquisitely nuanced and delicate melody. But it can’t last: the beauty is broken, disrupted back to discordant noise. But wait; beauty returns. That voice. Pleads. Begs. Dreams. Hopes. “Stay strong, carry on”. Vulnerability is writ large. But it can’t last, can’t withstand the onslaught which inevitably arrives. This time a soaring guitar solo replaces the voice amidst the mayhem, briefly taming the darkness.
Thicker Than Water (Track 5) is a welcome respite. Aiden’s bass carries the load and propels a reflective urge to reach tender depths as memories are recalled and the serenity of nostalgia calms the storm. For a while. Past and present conflict; the reverie breaks. Guitars leak into the musical canvas like water running down wallpaper heralding a coming flood.
A Sense of Purpose (Track 6) is a thundering, relentless assault, climactic vocals falling apart into guttural growls and screams. The melody reaches out to restore order but is quickly overwhelmed with the roar of brutal passion and raw emotion. Contrast this with Vinternatt (Track 7), a total shift of tone, mood and atmosphere. The growl remains present, but constrained, melody given an echoing, transparent musical backdrop. Like a scene change at a theatre, it’s replaced with dense, intense, busy-ness, only to shift again, and again until we reach the most glorious passage of almost shamanic chanting, unexpected and immersive in the way it mesmerises and stops you dead in your tracks.
Fearless (Track 8) brings us toward resolution. The melody is stronger, centre stage, not knocked off by competing instrumental contrasts. The song structure is almost ‘traditional’, paired back and simplified, allowing a lighter, brighter air. Closing track The Age of Kings (Track 9) brings us full circle to the feel of Track 1. Except, too much has happened, we have travelled so far, so long, so hard. It may be a return to where we started but it now feels very different. “Don’t let this moment ever be the end! / Been staring at these lights in the distance / Feeling kind of safe here / Alone.”
I found my way to prog via heavy metal and heavy rock. I retain a deep fondness for and strong affinity with both genres. In the burgeoning arena of progressive metal where so much mediocrity has unfortunately blunted its edge, what Mayfire have achieved with Cloudscapes and Silhouettes is, to my mind, remarkable. The vision of the album is both magnificent in its scope as well as monumental in its reach. Impressively ambitious. The innovative use of evolving layering to build creative shifting textures and create rich, resonant soundscapes is nothing short of triumphant. And in case I’ve not mentioned it before: that voice. Bloody hell. It gives you the world and everything in it.
Released November 17th, 2023.
Order from bandcamp here:
Cloudscapes & Silhouettes | Mayfire (bandcamp.com)
TRACK LISTING
1. The Fall 02:24
2. City Of Ruins 04:31
3. Shadows 06:33
4. Cloudscapes & Silhouettes 05:52
5. Thicker Than Water 03:51
6. A Sense Of Purpose 03:44
7. Vinternatt 05:35
8. Fearless 06:06
9. The Age Of Kings 05:24
MUSICIANS
Aiden – Bass
Eros – Drum
Locke – Guitar
MJX – Vocals
REX – Guitar