Arawn

Call of the Cyhyraeth

Demo 2007

Arawn is an entity that Philosophically draws upon the welsh heritage of its sole member, Bleiddwn-y-Nos.  Musically Arawn is a band that is somewhat harder to categorize than it would at first seem.  It is basically a melodic black metal band but incorporates a lot of acoustic guitars, clean vocals, and keyboards.  The Acoustic passages that open each song lend a truly epic feel to each composition.  The clean vocals on Sleep the Waters took some getting used to but I think this is mainly due to the phrasing of the lyrics.  It makes them seem kind of strained and awkward but repeated listens opens up their appeal.  Some of the best parts of Call Cyhyraeth are the faster and more traditional black metal riffing such as on the track To The Battle Born.  Bleiddwn-y-Nos knows how to write catchy riffs even at his young age of 17.  Some of his keyboard passages remind me of the debut album of The Gathering, fairly simple yet somehow also evocative.  This 3 song demo would benefit from thicker sounding guitars that were higher in the mix because at times they are overwhelmed by the vocals and even the drums to an extent.  Also there should be a little more work done to sew the separate parts of the songs together and make the transitions a little more seamless but I think this skill will come with time and experience.  And there is something a little too "spoken" about a lot of the vocal lines.  They don't flow as well as they could.  With all this said I think there are definite flashes of the potential brilliance that Arawn posses and the I feel that with the skill that will come with time and dedication Arawn could be a force to be reckoned with.  Bleiddwn-y-Nos can draw upon his talent with many instruments and his strength as a writer of catchy and interesting material for upcoming recordings.  I look forward to more music from a band I think has a bright future shining ahead of it.