The artwork first of all is again stunning, highly stylized, but perfectly on brand. Even though the band may be not so well known yet, these guys are by no means greenhorns. In fact, you might even recognize Isaac Faulk who also sits behind the drum kit in none other than technical death metal shamans Blood Incantation. Production duties are handled by Eternal Champion’s studio wizard, Arthur Rizk, who is quickly becoming the Peter Tätgren of the twenties. In a way this it is the third part of a trilogy starting with ‘World’s Blood’, their first record for Profound Lore, continues with ‘A Romance with Violence’ and concludes now on ‘American Gothic’.

The album starts off with ‘The Thousand Tombs of Western Promise’, an intro that might as well lead in a new spinoff from the series ‘Yellowstone’. One minute in though, we get the familiar rolling guitars and Shane McCarthy’s bellowing, raspy throat. What I love about this band is how they eschew the evident tropes. Instead of taking the easy path to evoke the feeling of the old west through, for instance, playing country songs in a metal way or just throwing in a Morricone theme, they evoke images of vast plains and vistas simply through sheer epic song craft. Just like Primordial creates ancient views of Ireland’s history without resorting to folky polka singalongs, you’ll be a long while waiting to start line dancing to Wayfarer’s tunes.

‘The Cattle Thief’ follows along the same trail but picks up the pace significantly, carefully watching that none of the majestic grandeur falls off the wagon. A daring move to put your two longest songs at the front end of your wagon trail, but it pays off, immersing you fully into their world.

‘Reaper of Oilfields’ takes a whole different approach and feels less like a metal anthem and more like something David Eugene Edwards would have written for Wovenhand. Trying a different vocal style, it foregoes the growls and screams for a clean croon akin to Mr Edwards. Very neatly done.

‘To Enter My House Justified’, for which they have also made the bleakly monochromatic video shown above, is more traditional Wayfaring fare, but condensed in a very crisp, immediate five minute song.

‘A High Plains Eulogy’ again shows that the man can really sing. This also marks one of the great differences, compared to the previous record. Despite the vitriolic violence embedded in to their craft, the moody parts are far more often accompanied by clean vocals now, where before the quiet bits were mostly instrumental.

‘Black Plumes over God’s Country’ has a spoken work part that again sounds very Wovenhand like and works to great atmospheric effect until the song erupts into some fantastic soloing.

‘False Constellation’ the last song is incidentally also the first song they teased to a wider audience a couple of weeks back, sounding a bit like if Burzum were conceived on the great plains rather than in the deepest recesses of the Norwegian woods.

Continuing Wayfarer‘s trailblazing journey across America’s Old West, the new record passes through decidedly darker, if slightly less violent, lands this time round. ‘A Romance With Violence’ may have signified the death of the American Dream, ‘American Gothic is the soundtrack to its funeral.

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