First steps for Vuur & Zijde.
After a split with Impavida back in 2020, the band comprising Famke Canrinus (vocals), Nicky Heijmen (guitar/keyboards, Laster), Richard Japenga (drums, Terzij de Horde), Carmen Raats (guitar, Witte Wieven) and Sylwin Cornielje (bass, Laster, Grey Aura) released their debut album Boezem on Prophecy Productions in 2024.
We begin with the ethereal touch Post-Punk offers to Onbemind, creating a complementary duality with Black Metal’s layer of saturation to perfect the cocoon welcoming Famke‘s enchanting voice. More virulent waves also await us to punctuate our journey to the danceable Zusterzon, which immediately follows with a relatively ominous aura that spreads throughout its rhythm, but especially on the darker passages. Oppression continues with Us, offering a haunting approach that lulls us into darkness, where we have all sorts of strange noises before returning to a more energetic basis on Omheind, which doesn’t forget its heavy, almost unhealthy and so haunting touch, especially keyboards and their vaporous notes. Kuier returns to gentleness with a relatively uncluttered sound where the vocal parts are grafted on before joining the silence. We continue with II, which develops an atmosphere halfway between anguish and quietude, letting saturation shroud us throughout the track with its obvious electronic roots, while the vocalist tirelessly repeats her words. Nest will strangely create a sense of security for me, thanks to an extremely majestic but also very aggressive sound, which tends to calm down at times before giving way to Adem, where the contrast in styles is even more marked, making the violent passages almost playful. The album comes to a close with the lengthy Naakt, on which the musicians let their creativity run free, dipping one last time into the hypnotic, atmospheric darkness populated by lyrics and ethereal backing vocals.
Vuur & Zijde‘s mix of genres may seem strange on paper, but it soon becomes clear that it’s quite natural and heady. Boezem is a unique and rich album that doesn’t hesitate to break codes and free itself from codes to bewitch us.
90/100
