FRAYLE - Heretics & Lullabies [CD]

Following international performances at festivals such as Damnation, Desertfest, Soul Crusher, Gloomnar, Post Fest and Inkcarceration, FRAYLE vows to enrapture audiences with their third full length album, entitled Heretics & Lullabies, out in October 2025 via Napalm Records. For several years, Cleveland, Ohio's FRAYLE has been lauded as one of the fastest-rising, most haunting currently active modern doom metal outfits. Noted first by Revolver Magazine as a band to watch in 2023, and then again by Knotfest for the following year, the band continues to infuse their sound with new eclectic elements and reinvent their ghostly trademark sonic profile. Merging the heaviness of occult-driven doom and blackgaze with frontwoman Gwyn Strang's distinctively eerie vocal stylings and the crushing guitars of Sean Bilovecky, the band has fully realized their ""lullabies of chaos"" musical vision with Heretics & Lullabies. Recorded by FRAYLE and produced, mixed and mastered by Aaron Chaparian at Iron Audio (Bleeding Through, Harms Way), Heretics & Lullabies kicks off with first single “Walking Wounded”, a whispering wall-of-sound that crushes with spine-tingling stacks of harmony. The deeply punishing atmosphere continues into second track “Summertime Sadness”, an entirely reworked doom-laden cover of the Lana Del Rey hit. Airy anthem “Boo” injects mid-tempo flavor and multifaceted vocal balance into the album as crushing weight lands alongside each hook, with bending guitar tone and dark, sparkling atmosphere swirling amid pounding percussion. Mid-album cuts such as “Demons” and “Glass Blown Heart” flirt with threateningly macabre lyrical poetry and otherworldly melody, while glacially-paced anthems “Souvenirs Of Your Betrayal” – described as a deeply personal look at the depths of despair after a painful deception – and “Run” double down on the aggressive, suffocatingly beautiful ambience and Gwyn Strang's shimmering, beckoning vocal timbre. Hair-raising “Hymn For The Living” and standout single “Heretic” inject heavy rock edge and arena-ready drums into the mix, before the album concludes with droning melodic masterpiece “Only Just Once” – an unforgettable closer to this colossal modern doom compendium. Heretics & Lullabies is a must-listen for any fan of doom, post-metal or atmosphere-heavy alt-rock, but also a pristinely phantomic journey for any heavy music fan as it maintains its accessible edge throughout. Heretics and hypocrites beware – Heretics & Lullabies will perpetually etch itself into the darkest corners of your psyche, taking deeper hold with each spin.