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.

Further explorations of this theme occur in songs such as "Void to Be," where regret tempers expressions of desire, and "Bodies," which begins with an aggressive tone that softens into a melancholic melody. The band's production highlights their guitars and low end, creating a distinct sound that supports the lyrical content.