Frayle
Skin & Sorrow
Violett/Black Vinyl LP. Doom, Postrock. 2022
Lay Bare Records is, regardless of Frayle, highly recommended.

The combo Frayle, founded in Cleveland in 2017 by Gwyn Strang and Sean Bilovecky, makes dark doom and post-rock. It flows beautifully through guitars and slow drums. Gwyn delivers the sometimes breathy, sometimes dark and sometimes demanding vocals. Bright and clear. Mystical. Frayle is also a visual band, both come from the design field. Skin & Sorrow was released in 2022. Click here for the review of the EP The White Witch.

What drives a prog-head to doom? First of all, each song forms a well-thought-out unit. Every riff, every note and the vocals reinforce each other in their morbidity. Not only doom is celebrated here, but also drone, gothic, stoner and sludger. Maybe a little trip-hop and ambient too. An interesting mix for me.

A lot of attention was paid to the design of the LP, but this is noticeable as a slight crackling sound. When the music is playing, it is no longer audible. Gwyn's voice is sometimes difficult to understand due to the type of music and the amount of reverb. The whispered parts don't make it any easier either. I recommend reading the lyrics at the beginning and you'll understand better in no time.

The dark round dance begins with “Treacle & Revenge”, I also recommend the title track “Skin & Sorrow” and “Sacrifant”. 

What, you're only introducing three tracks? That's right, the music is very similar in terms of style and I can't follow the many effusive reviews. The music is good, the elaboration is well thought out. It's a lot about pain, death, loss and dishonest people. It all goes slowly, almost like mantras. Everything is mystical, but not esoteric. In my opinion, it sounds best on headphones. Definitely not something you'd listen to casually; this record unfolds its musical power when you listen carefully. 

The photos are all from my LP. The rights to all motifs, logos, texts and fonts that can be seen in the photos are of course owned by the copyright holder.