44. Frayle - "Skin & Sorrow"

This is a luscious dollop of sensual doom. Ethereal, atmospheric, and full of sumptuous orchestration. It flirts with commerciality, but it has enough individuality to feel distinctly different from the other bands doing this type of thing. It’s potent and heady as opposed to being explicitly heavy and it prefers to be bewitching rather than overtly aggressive.

Gwyn Strang possesses an alluring and all-consuming set of pipes. Her soothing tones have a tint of maleficence to them, that shrouds the whole album with a veil of uneasy portent. A haunting and enthralling record that siren like draws unsuspecting listeners in.