Mairu release debut album “Sol Cultus”
Mairu, the Liverpool based post-metal / doom metal band are releasing their debut album “Sol Cultus” this Friday (28th July 2023). I first came across Mairu back in November 2019 pre-Covid, when they played at the Chameleon Café in Nottingham, alongside local band Antre, and Wren. All three bands were great on the night, but for me it was Mairu that stood out the most, with their film-like instrumental soundscapes, stuff that would not look out of place in a Lord of Rings score with tracks entitled A Fire Within The Splendour, Dawn Creature and March Amid The Howling Trees. From Mairu, I’ve got into bands such as Pallbearer and Elder.
Their debut EP “The Sacred Dissonance” (available HERE) and the single Wild Darkened Eyes (available HERE) are releases I still listen to regularly, but now, we get the chance to enjoy a full length album of material with the launch of “Sol Cultus”.
The album has that dark, ominous feel to it I’ve grown to love from Mairu, with it’s deep, rich and complex tonal range, but at the same time, the sound has evolved and matured.
The album launces with the epic 9 minute Torch Bearer a swirling introduction leads into a fierce and intense riff driven beat. The pace slackens to a pulsing wall of guitars as somewhat muted vocals are chanted / shouted out, giving it an earthy pagan, ritualistic feel. Cracking stuff right from the off. The sound is rich and complex.
Next up is Perihelion and we’re back to their earlier instrumental format for this one. The pace slows with a beautiful crisp guitar introduction creating a haunting soundscape, and the track builds, adding layers of complexity with a ritualistic sounding drum beat underpinning it, almost creating the sense of druids en-route to some ceremony. The track builds and builds the intensity until it breaks towards the end, allowing you to breathe before it once again bursts into ferocious life, with sharp, clear picked guitar notes almost sounding like a chiming bell. Stunning.
The album is broken into parts with short minute long sections, the first being Inter Alia, a quiet and introspective pause from the maelstrom. With a wind like swooping quality and the use of a mute brass tone (sax?) it’s a beautiful interlude, creating a space of calm and relaxation.
The interlude doesn’t last long as previous single Wild Darkened Eyes bursts out at us from the speakers. With cries mixed in to the riffs, it’s like an untamed beast let loose, angry and dangerous. There are quieter sections with growling vocals that give an un-nerving sense of something prowling, and circling it’s prey (my take on things). It rises and cools throughout, never letting you rest, from chest pounding, core rumbling intensity to slow delicate sleepy sections. Throughout the album Dan’s bass is a cornerstone to the sound. Deep, dark and downright dirty, it stands proud, like Andy Keating in IST IST audible and essential to their sound.
The Scattering Dust is another epic track at over 8 minutes in length and certainly has that Pallbearer feel to it – enormous and rife with dramatic and intense moments, it’s full of doom-laden menace. Half way through the structure changes and brings in a clearer riff driven section, a welcome clarity in the surrounding storm.
Another brief rest-bite in the form of Per Alia which feels different from Inter Alia. Whereas the first break felt natural, like a wind breathing fresh air in to the album, Per Alia has a more industrial feel to it’s tone, with an almost machine like rumbling tone underneath, and an organ like tone draped over it. Simple, short and yet incredibly relaxing.
Atar continues the industrial feel, with an itro, sounding like an oil drum being struck, building a rhythm. I was beginning to think it was going to be a Numan-esque like track, before the guitars ripped in once again and that tribal beat engages. And in a way, Atar sums up the album in one, a sonic journey of exploration.
Then, we reach the final track in Rite of Embers, a 10 minute opus of a track. Delicate guitar riffs waft over us, as symbols rise and wash over us in waves, a delightful, dreamy introduction as the toms patterns join in. The journey through this album has been an odyssey with sonic highs and lowers but an intensity throughout. Rite of Embers is the perfect conclusion to this journey mixing soft and hardcore styles in perfect balance. The first few minutes being like a like a lightly applied brake, drawing us to the end of the album, before the accelerator is once again pressed hard to the floor, as the doom-laden melancholic guitars once again kick in and drive the track to another level. The raw energy remains until there’s about a minute left and then it breathes, and relaxes, returning to the sonic calm of the first few minutes as it drifts off into the unknown.
I’ve been waiting for an album from Mairu for some time, and I hoped that when it arrived, it wouldn’t disappoint. What “Sol Cultus” achieves is made all the more incredible that this is their debut album. A band on form, and at one with their ethos and each other, each element complimenting the other to perfection, creating a sonic journey of discover unlike anything else. It’s loud, it’s raw. Its powerful and yet delicate, with a dynamic range all of it’s own.
I rarely get out the 10/10, but for this one ? Absolutely. This is a sonic journey of discover I encourage you all to embrace.
“Sol Cultus” is available now to pre-order on Bandcamp HERE and costs only £10 on CD and £5 for Digital version, and is released on Friday 28th July 2023.
