Cwfen – Sorrows
Release Date: 30th May 2025
Label: New Heavy Sounds
Bandcamp
Genre: Doom Metal, Goth Metal, Doomgaze, Post-Punk, Heavy Metal, Shoegaze, Stoner.
FFO: King Woman, Messa, Chelsea Wolfe, Type O Negative, Faetooth, Iress.
Review By: Rick Farley
Emerging from Glasgow’s underground a little more than a year and a half ago, Cwfen (pronounced ‘Coven’ in Welsh) brings their version of gothic post-punk tinged Caledonian doom metal to the masses with their debut album Sorrows, set for release via New Heavy Sounds on May 30th, 2025. Four friends that were only writing music for themselves, who never intended to write an album; however, they created something so spiritually haunting, visceral, and cathartic that it could not be ignored, and Sorrows was born from the beautiful darkness.
Cwfen’s shadowy combination of heaviness, dark soulful energy and stormy spookiness all centred around the haunting, witchy cleans of Agnes Alder (vocals, rhythm guitars). Her voice is powerful, intriguing, and uniquely alluring. At times, she has a Dax Riggs (Acid Bath) inflection that creeps in the way she expresses certain words or phrases. Unafraid to sing in lower tones or scream out harsh blackened shrieks, it adds a considerable amount of wicked personality to her beguiling vocals. Guy DeNuit (lead guitar) also does backing vocals making the overall lyrical soundscape exciting and fresh.
Musically Sorrows is a melting pot of fuzzy guitars, doomy filled ambience, nightmarish moods, and mesmerizing heaviness. At times, the guitars seem just a tad off kilter as far as dissonance goes, adding a get under your skin type of tension that’s hard to shake but adds so much menacing texture. It feels unnaturally sinister. A fitting example of this is Wolfsbane, an old school heavy metal style riff launches after ghostly echoing, sounding just off enough to be noticeable, but it somehow ties in so well with the energy and dramatic undertones. A highlight of many.
The chord changes and clean guitar melodies on the silky Reliks has a “Welcome Home (Sanatorium)” kind of vibe solely in terms of familiarity. It does take a minute to adjust to, simply because those chord changes are so iconic. In no way does this track overall sound like it, but it’s hard to miss at certain points. It is however an intricate mix of hazy and vibrant, chill, and energetic. The chorus amps up the layers of chunky guitars for a harrowing journey of atmosphere building. The driving, thick bassline from Mary Thomas Baker sets the foundation to be weighty and booming while the track flows serenely throughout.
Somehow, as Sorrows grows on, it seems like it gets a little darker, a little heavier and a lot nastier. Track 7 Penance has a stressed, slower drum beat from Rös Ranquinn with noisy guitar buzzing around. It trudges along with simple distorted chord changes that feel weighty and rigid. The raw, harsh vocals are screamed out as if Agnes is being tortured. The track feels very occult, which is delightfully terrifying. It drags you to the deep end, never really letting go. Ethereal choir like cleans after each verse juxtapose the pained shrieks, while you’re being entranced by the tribalistic nature of the drums and the gloomy aura.
Closing Track Rite kicks off with high energy post-rock and horrifying growly vocals. The track is a balance of ghastly horror, shoegazing melodies and unique hookiness. It’s a chaotic track with a ton of haunting atmosphere. It’s somehow heavy, with punky energy, and is still highly meditative.
Cwfen are masters at building atmospheres regardless of the genres they’re connecting, creating a dizzying array of stylistic swagger. Droning, crushing, or smouldering sultriness, their grasp of hypnotic song crafting is astounding for being a such new band. I guarantee Sorrows will go down as one of 2025’s most exciting new releases. Do not miss this one.
(4.5 / 5)
Super excited for this. The first 2 singles on Reliks were awesome.
Hope you dig it as much as we did!