Band – Gossamer
Album – The Culling of Crones
Country of Origin – Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA
Genre – Blackened Death Metal
Release Date – July 14, 2023
Label – Fiadh Productions
Author – Hayduke X
The first thing which piqued my interest about The Culling of Crones is the location of the duo. Ann Arbor is just a couple of hours away from the home base of MoshPitNation on the west side of the state of Michigan. From our founding, we have tried hard to cover Michigan metal first, so I immediately knew that I would at least give this Gossamer debut a proper listen. Add in the fact that Fiadh would be releasing the cassette version of the album (since the label shares so many values with us) and the fact that the project was billed, correctly, as raw blackened death metal, and I felt very confident that a review would be forthcoming. This is all before I even pressed play.
And then I did press play and found myself completely blown away by the music. I would have reviewed this anyway, even without all those other reasons to do so. Though the music does come across as raw, the production allows all the nuances, twists, and turns to be clearly heard. I think the rawness comes from the relentless drumming (probably programmed, but organic sounding enough that I could be wrong), the bombastic guitar tones, the thunderous bass, and the combination of the two harsh vocal styles. The resulting album is abrasive, confrontational, destructive, and immaculate.
Gossamer is made up of Gauntlet and Nadir. Beyond those pseudonyms, I know nothing about either member. Bandcamp and Metal Archives both suggest that both members do ‘everything,’ so I have no concept of how the workload is broken down, either in terms of composition or playing. What I did learn from the project’s own Bandcamp page is that The Culling of Crones is about the horrors of war. I suggest going to the page and reading the text there. It is clear to me that they are not celebrating war, but rather trying to shine a light on the horrors, perhaps to help us better understand the suffering involved, so as to make different choices in the future. I’ll leave you with the last line of this statement:
To those that have weathered the rampant suffering that comes in the wake of war; this record is dedicated to you.
The weight of the subject matter, the strength of the composition, and the rugged excellence of the playing make this an album worth many repeat spins. Here’s hoping Gossamer brings us more sooner than later. Pre-orders will be up soon from Fiadh Productions.
Biography: Hayduke X has been writing for MoshPitNation since June of 2016. He is also a contributor to The Metal Wanderlust. Prior to joining the MoshPitNation team, Hayduke published reviews on his own blog Rage and Frustration. In addition, he has DJ’ed an online metal radio show of the same name as his blog, written for TOmetal.com, done interviews for Metal Rules, and collaborated with The Art of B Productions to create video interviews with a wide variety of bands.
