CAIRISS – Wilderness

RELEASE YEAR: 2026
BAND URL: https://linktr.ee/cairiss

Formed back in 2013 and having released a well-received demo the following year and then an EP two years later, this intriguing debut album of theirs may be said to have been a long time coming – ten years to be exact – and the term blackgaze is most definitely an apt description of what the UK ensemble known as Cairiss dabbles in and what lies in store for you.

The meticulous and highly focused approach to the entire creative process has certainly paid off as the record hits the sweet spot between furious, black metal-infused parts and shoegaze-y elements and trademarks. Simply put, Cairiss has succeeded in merging the two genres to good effect while ensuring that there is a certain cohesion to the proceedings despite the many dichotomies that color the compositions. Moving seamlessly from one part to the next is no easy feat when serving up this particular brand of vodka, but somehow the sextet makes it look easy. So, what you basically get are contrasts that wrestle with each other throughout and plenty of aggressive outbursts that are offset by clean singing, serene melodies, and sweeping melodies, which is merely another way of stating that the disc is hardly what one would call unadventurous or uninspired. A few cuts do strike these ears as being somewhat inoffensive and lacking strong, memorable passages, namely the mellow “Integrate” in that it fails to tug at the heartstrings and stir the imagination, and also “Retrace,” which never really delivers on its promise and lacks a proper climax. “Nervosa,” “Dissociate,” and “The Guide” are where the melodies and song arrangements truly shine and the creativity sparkles, and in the overall perspective, this musically adept outfit has spawned an opus where majestic beauty tinged with a harsh aura transports the listener elsewhere. A splendid example of how to balance tension and release despite the LP being slightly uneven in places.