What? Another album by Empress? But it’s only been like 6 weeks since Premonition dropped! Ah, but you see, sometimes names can have two bands. Rather than the frigid wastes of Vancouver, this Empress is from the slightly less frigid wastes of Gold Coast, Australia. Both dabble in various forms of post-metal, too. And if that doesn’t make for enough confusion, my cleverly modified search for “empress australia” revealed Empress Australia already exists as well, except this one is… a shoe brand. No wonder the band’s Bandcamp and Facebook addresses have to repeat their name twice. So the band is a little difficult to DuckDuckGo, but is it worth the effort?
Now, both Empresses have post-metal roots, but the comparison ends there. The one in question has less in common with ISIS and more with Chelsea Wolfe, Darkher or Frayle. Tension builds ominous moods with sparse drumming where every stroke seems to carry immense weight. The guitars have a texture reminiscent of desert rock, but their melodies are more downtuned and subtle, painting pictures of dark romanticism against a mesa-filled dusk skyline. The vocals follow suit with an almost husky delivery, despite frontwoman Chloe’s natural timbre occupying an area in-between soulful and poppy with an easy clarity. Though her voice isn’t the most unique, her technique is impressive. Her versatility is displayed when the tension is released, which is most effectively done on opener “Golden Orb.” When the chorus kicks in, the assault has a deliciously sludgy charge, with the vocals switching to a surprisingly coarse scream. The dynamic songwriting, with excellent transitions in mood and pacing, immediately made me perk up on the first spin, setting high expectations for the rest of the album.
Though the remainder of Wait ‘Til Night doesn’t quite reach such lofty heights, there is still much to enjoy. The band shows itself capable of building foreboding atmosphere with ease in a variety of styles. “Scorpio Moon” is old school doom, baleful and bewitching with a starring role for the bass and a jagged controlled hysteria in Chloe’s voice. Mid-album highlight “Void Share Void” is haunting and lonely, drawing on empty and cold atmospheres, and is perhaps the closest to a Chelsea Wolfe track as the album gets, although Empress is on the whole a less abrasive exercise. A few tracks forego the build-and-release cycle entirely, focusing on evocative moods instead; this includes the darkly industrial “Back To The Ground,” which seems to depict a witch-burning, and the impossibly tender “Where No Light Can Remain,” which is so laden with echoes and reverb it seems to have been recorded in an empty subway tunnel.
A lot of Wait ‘Til Night is good to downright great, but a few side notes must be made. Though the carefully constructed atmosphere and sinister sound is absolutely among the band’s greatest strengths, it is strongest when contrasted with a payoff, a moment where the tension is released and evokes a sense of catharsis. The back half has such contrasts less frequently, and though closer “I Let You In” is admirably dynamic in its mood-switching, it leans too much on repetition to feel like it is building towards anything. As a result, the record feels a tad frontloaded. The production feels geared entirely towards the more quiet atmospheric part as well, and with its pleasant distortion and good mix it gets far, but when the dam breaks the sound is notably compressed and loses impact as a result.
These are just scribbles in the margins on an otherwise very positive report, however. Empress are a very capable outfit, with the ability to create forbidding atmosphere with ease, and contrast it with cathartic bursts of energy. Their sound is uncomplicated but highly effective, and the performances are restrained or energetic precisely where they need to be. There is still room for improvement, but with Wait ‘Til Night Empress have delivered a high quality sophomore album that is sure to please fans of atmospheric doom.
Rating: 3.5/5.0
DR: 5 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Brilliant Emperor Records
Websites: empressempress.bandcamp.com | facebook.com/empress.band.empress
Releases Worldwide: November 20th, 2020
