E-L-R release Atropa tomorrow, 5 November, through Prophecy Productions. It is their third album and the first since Vexier in 2022.
Six songs: Oaken Reaper, Archeress, Cobalt Wound, Solace Tracery, Saltwinds and Echo Space. Two of them are already out. Oaken Reaper came first, and the band were unusually direct about what it is for. It was written in a time of change, said S.M., who plays guitar and sings, and sits poised between a farewell and new beginnings.
Cobalt Wound followed, with Shazzula of Wolvennest on it. The two bands come out of the same Belgian and Swiss orbit of slow, ritual heaviness, so the guest is less a feature than a neighbour walking in.
Six tracks is a short list for a record of this kind, which usually means long songs rather than a short album. Prophecy have put both singles out with visualizers rather than videos, which suits a band that has never traded on its faces.