What genre is Blackwater Holylight's new album?

Blackwater Holylight's new album, 'Not Here Not Gone,' blends doom, black metal, and shoegaze with singer-songwriter themes.

How does Blackwater Holylight use heaviness in their music?

Blackwater Holylight uses heaviness to convey emotional weight, comparing it to the burden of difficult conversations rather than as an end in itself.

What is notable about the song 'How Do You Feel'?

'How Do You Feel' features a wall of sound that underscores singer Sunny Faris's lyrics about separation, balancing intensity with tender delivery.

Home / Arts and Entertainment / Blackwater Holylight: Heavy Music Meets Intimate Revelations

Blackwater Holylight: Heavy Music Meets Intimate Revelations

2 Feb

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Summary

Band blends doom, black metal, and shoegaze with singer-songwriter themes.
New album 'Not Here Not Gone' is their most consistent and propulsive.
Heaviness serves emotional weight, not as an end in itself.

Blackwater Holylight: Heavy Music Meets Intimate Revelations

Blackwater Holylight has released their fourth album, 'Not Here Not Gone,' their first since relocating to Los Angeles from Portland. The band draws inspiration from doom, black metal, and shoegaze, infusing these heavy genres with the emotional vulnerability typically found in singer-songwriter music.

The album's heaviness is framed not as a primary goal but as a vehicle for conveying deep emotional states, akin to the weight of a difficult conversation. This approach is compared to artists like Emma Ruth Rundle and Chelsea Wolfe, presenting 'bruised singer-songwriter' themes amplified by distortion.

Tracks like the opening "How Do You Feel" exemplify this, using a wall of sound to underscore singer Sunny Faris's poignant lyrics about impending separation. The music's intensity is tempered by a tender delivery, neutralizing potential aggression with nuanced instrumentation.