What we have for you today is the premiere of a song that carries us into an unnerving dreamscape, a venture into a hostile void that’s cold enough to chill the blood, venomous enough to create fear, and mentally afflicting in the way of an alien encounter — no fooling.
The song is “A Dream, Never Ending“, and it comes from the debut album Solstice by the Israeli black metal band Srefa, which will be co-released by Satanath Records (Georgia) and Australis Records (Chile) on April 26th.
The album follows this Tel Aviv group’s 2022 debut EP Primal and live performances sharing the stage with such bands as as Gevurah, Nubivagant, and Hexis. It includes 8 songs and represents a further evolution in their sound.
It truly is a frightening dream that Srefa have created through the song you’re about to hear, a slowly building darkness that ultimately becomes shattering. It begins with a bass that growls like a hulking, menacing beast, backed by ritual drum beats, then joined by an eerie guitar whose dissonant ringing tones begin to put nerves even more on edge.
The ghostly wail of Dorin Hajon‘s voice is equally eerie, but elevates into inflamed screams as the music itself elevates with distressing waves of glimmering sound, anchored by that beastly bass-voice and rumbling drums.
The music relentlessly torques the tension to the breaking point. The drums come unchained, blasting away; the immersive waves of sound roil as well as ring; the bass manically throbs; the voice shrieks in torment and becomes terrorizing. Only a few moments of astral drift provide any reprieve at the end.
SREFA is:
Dorin Hajon – vocals
David Nardya – guitars
Matan Kedar – bass
Assaf Kassimov – drums
Satanath and Australis recommend the album for fans of Mayhem, Wiegedood, Woe, Mgła, Emperor, Wolves In The Throne Room, Afsky, Celtic Frost, Bathory, Yellow Eyes, and Thy Darkened Shade.
For more info and to pre-order, check the links below — and also listen to the album’s first single, “Ensnared and Conquered“.
By contrast to the song we’re presenting today, that one is an immediate tempest of frantically thundering drums, deliriously convulsing riffage, and berserk, throat-splitting screams.
The bass again plays a vital role, but this time it seems to murmur and wander in the midst of a wrenching conflagration of madness. And here, the piercing guitars spiral upward in an agony that seems white hot, completely riveting attention during the song’s finale.
The contrasts between this first single and the one today are dramatic, and together they demonstrate formidable talents and create high expectations for this debut album.
PRE-ORDER:
https://satanath.bandcamp.com/album/sat374-srefa-solstice-2024
http://www.australisrecords.com/
SREFA:
https://srefa.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/SrefaBand/