FEN present new advance single ‘Abyssal Plain‘
taken from forthcoming album “Elemental Part One: Mourning Earth“
FEN choose continuous escalation with their next advance track ‘Abyssal Plain‘, which is taken from the East Anglian post-black metal stalwarts’ forthcoming new album, “Elemental Part One: Mourning Earth“, which is scheduled for release on August 21, 2026.
FEN comment: “From the highest peaks to the deepest depths of the seabed – this is now our fate”, mastermind Frank “The Watcher” Allain writes. “The ‘Abyssal Plain’ is a place seemingly bereft of life – the lowest points of the earth are to be found here, and it is here that we will face the most consuming well of our depression. Faces, names, places – all will fade from the mind and have little meaning as we sink into the mire, crushed by the darkness and drifting inexorably towards oblivion. The roiling, churning bleakness of the ‘Abyssal Plain’ is all that remains.”
Credit
Image animation by Łukasz Jaszak
Tracklist
1. Glacier
2. Tectonic
3. Massif
4. Abyssal Plain
5. Barrow
6. Moor
It is quite a paradox, FEN are climbing to a new artistic height by coming down to earth with their eighth full-length “Elemental Part One: Mourning Earth”. The East Anglian trio has turned to their ‘roots’ in every sense, by distilling the true essence of what constitutes their sound through everything that they have learned and added in the last two decades.
Realising that they had reached their twentieth ‘full’ year, FEN set out to encapsulate the full expanse of their sound as well as the whole width of their stylistic range. As a result, “Mourning Earth” can be described as a marriage of their first and last releases, via the waypoint of “Winter”. Musically, the focus is on the emotive textures and cinematic aspects of the songs.
While the previous album, “Monuments to Absence” (2023), was deliberately arranged dense, fast and intense, FEN decided to leave breathing space on this album to allow more time for themes and ideas to exhale and unfurl. Of course, there is still much sonic aggression but channelled differently as large parts of “Mourning Earth” were recorded live to allow an organic nature to flow, and to permit the natural rhythms of the pieces to develop.
FEN‘s rhythm section actively moved away from the blast and double-kick heavy approach in order to concentrate on more dynamic drum patterns, experimenting with accents and feel. Challenging bass lines interweave around the percussion whilst simultaneously counterpointing the guitar layers.
Lyrically, FEN sum up their basic idea behind “Elemental Part One: Mourning Earth” in their own poetic words: “The morning mists clearing over the boggy expanses of the fens to reveal another grey, gloom-laden day of sorrow and regret. And at twilight, the slow, sad realisation that tomorrow promises only more of the same – tormented by the half-heard whispers of the spirits bound to the soils, our pain continues. And we can only endure.”
In this context, it is noteworthy that “Mourning Earth” is the first part of a two album concept with the second part already quite formed both conceptually and musically in the artist’s mind. In that sense, the “Elemental” diptych is undoubtedly the biggest project FEN have undertaken so far.
The colour of a FEN album always provides a dead giveaway to its conceptual and musical direction. The cover artwork of the East Anglians’ eighth full-length features an abundance of the colour ‘green’, which further underlines its elemental earth bound content.
FEN took their name from the famous Fens of East Anglia where the trio was formed in 2006. These bleak, desolate landscapes have left a deep mark on their post-black metal sound, which the band spearheaded in the UK while the English metal scene re-vitalised with such bands as FEN, WINTERFYLLETH, and WODENSTHRONE coming to the fore in the wake of pioneering duo FOREFATHER.
FEN released their first full-length “The Malediction Fields” in 2009 to international applause in underground circles. The band made good on the huge promise of their previous EP “Ancient Sorrow” (2007) by delivering a debut album that combined the black metal tradition elegantly with a dedicated atmospheric twist and gentle experimentation beyond the perceived narrow confines of their genre.
With each following full-length, from “Epoch” (2011), via “Dustwalker” (2012), “Carrion Skies” (2014), “Winter” (2017) to “The Dead Light” (2019), FEN have constantly expanded both their musical range and following, while also throwing their clearly recognisable and unmistakable sound in ever sharper relief. The band has performed at prestigious festivals such as SWR Barosselas Metalfest (PT), Damnation (UK), and Prophecy Fest (DE), and toured with NEGURĂ BUNGET, WODENSTHRONE, and AGALLOCH among many others.
With “Elemental Part One: Mourning Earth”, FEN have reached a new pinnacle in their exciting career and achieved a perfect balance between their black metal foundations and post-black metal innovations. FEN take their listener on a journey to grim bogs, languid waterways, and dismal fogs over bare rock – yet on the other side waits a sense of surcease to the endless existential ennui within.
Band: Fen
Album title: Elemental Part One: Mourning Earth
Release date: August 21, 2026
Style: Post-black metal
Label: Prophecy Productions
Distribution: SPKR
Review impact date: July 20, 2026
Line-up
The Watcher (Frank Allain) – vocals, guitars
Grungyn (Adam Allain) – vocals, bass
J.G. – drums
Guest musician
James Carter – violin on ”The Same Deep Water as You’ (The Cure cover on CD 2)
Production & recording by Chris Fielding at Penylan Studio, Meifod (UK)
Mixed by by Chris Fielding at Penylan Studio, Meifod (UK)
Mastering by Jaime Gomez Arellano at Orgone Studios, Porto (PT)
Artwork by Grungyn (Adam Allain)
Layout by Łukasz Jaszak
Links
www.facebook.com/fenofficial
www.instagram.com/fenbanduk
Shop
https://spkr.store/collections/fen
Available formats
“Elemental Part One: Mourning Earth” is available as 36-page hardcover artbook with the regular & a bonus CD, as ltd. splatter transparent green & black vinyl LP, black vinyl LP, and as a Digisleeve CD.
