Seven years since the creative force that is Widow’s Peak first began to take shape in the basements and backstreets of Calgary, the band’s first full length album is ready to be unleashed – and the development from those first faltering steps has been little short of staggering. The eleven pieces of disconcerting destruction that together form Claustrophobe, this magnificent debut album, are characterised by blinding technical ability and formidable power, but also all encompassing atmosphere and a truly alien individuality that sets the band apart from the pack. Standing alone outside the accepted parameters and expected tropes, they deliver tech death that is all you could hope for and more than you knew that you wanted.
Claustrophobe drifts into your awareness on the portentous clouds of ‘Blood On The Breath’, heightening and confusing the senses, before the mind-rending assault of ‘Claustrophobe’ itself explodes, attacking with cruel precision from every conceivable angle. To assume that any sort of pattern has now been established though would be a grave error. There is no pattern to Claustrophobe, no simple path to be uncovered and understood. Each track expands and fractures into a shrapnel rain, each a multi-faceted gem of many hues and dangerous edges. From the scuttling frenzy of ‘The Worming Hour’, through the imposing presence and spiralling solos of ‘Pillars Of Failure’ to the undulating promises and whispers of ‘When The Last Leaf Wilts’, trying to predict the blossoming of Claustrophobe, to anticipate the pathways along which Widow’s Peak will travel, is a losing game. Better to hold tight, open your mind and experience the exhilaration of the ride.
The intricacies and textures of Widow’s Peak’s music have been given the space to breathe and the stage on which to dance their rituals of devastation by the fantastic mixing and mastering skills of Colin Marston (Atheist, Gorguts, Artificial Brain etc). Every wicked, wounding thrust and blood chilling whisper can slice right through to your core. Adorned in the artwork of the band’s own Chris McCrimmon – which poses many more questions than it answers – Claustrophobe will open its jaws on July 7th and invite you into its venomous maw…
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