ADORN – Adorn

vote
7.0

• Bands:
  ADORN
• Duration: 00:40:00
• Available from: 07/11/2025
• Label:

• Northern Silence Prod.

Streaming not yet available

Over a decade after a first EP, “Grace”, which circulated almost exclusively in the underground circuit, Adorn returns with a self-titled debut that smacks of awareness and reflection. It can be said that the wait, in this case, was not in vain: the British project, fully immersed in the wake of certain atmospheric black metal and the blackgaze current, offers a rather elegant work, where the form is as important as the content. The cover, sober and refined, heralds a sound world made of melancholy and fading quiet, rather than anger or primordial fury.

The basis remains that of ethereal black metal, interwoven with dilated and melancholic melodies, but Adorn's palette expands thanks to a series of elements that enrich the overall picture: delicate piano lines, violin inserts and clean choruses that emerge like flashes against the light. These interventions are not too intrusive, often acting as an emotional counterpoint, enhancing a writing which, as expected, prefers nuance and suggestion over direct impact. It is an approach that very closely recalls the first Alcest, but which also dialogues with the decadent grace of projects such as An Autumn For Crippled Children or the Swiss Aara, while maintaining its own intimate and romantic sensitivity.

The screaming vocals, relegated to the background, blend in with the guitars, almost becoming a further textural layer rather than an autonomous expressive vehicle. It is a choice consistent with the nature of the album, which aims more at the construction of an atmospheric continuum than at highlighting the individual components. The guitars weave fluid and shimmering walls of sound, supported by a discreet but functional rhythm section, while the songs flow with a certain naturalness, without great excesses.

Despite moving within coordinates well known to the genre, the album manages to maintain interest alive thanks to the quality of the arrangement and the melodic sensitivity that runs through it. Clearly, there is no intent to reinvent the reference threads, but rather to return a solid and agile version, the clear result of a long gestation. You can feel the patience of those who refined every detail so that the sound was both clear and enveloping.

In short, it is not a work that surprises or shocks, but one of those that strikes with constancy and coherence. In its balance between introspection and sonic breadth, between melancholy and dream, “Adorn” establishes itself as a solid and conscious debut, capable of touching the right chords for those listeners who are looking for particularly airy sounds and a black metal which also combines darkness with the possibility of a fragile and persistent dream.