Fall of Efrafa was a concept band formed in Brighton, United Kingdom, in 2005. It started life as a cello-driven crust band, yet after various line-up changes, they focused on creating their own sound, mixing elements of post-metal, sludge, crust and post-rock, taking influence from bands such as Neurosis, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Agalloch and Buried Inside. They described their music as heavy atmospheric post-hardcore.
The concept was based loosely around their own interpretation of the mythology in the novel Watership Down by Richard Adams. The band created a trilogy of records known collectively as "The Warren of Snares": Owsla (guardian), Elil (enemy), and Inlé (death). The narrative behind the lyrics followed a society on the brink of social collapse, under a theocratic rule. An uprising occurs in the face of a greater enemy. Characters from the book, and the make-believe language known as 'lapine', were included in both the artwork and lyrics.
The band received a lot of praise for their music, both for the concept surrounding the band - a mix of mythological language and imagery amidst anti-religious, animal rights ideologies - and the music itself, although fans are often divided, when pigeon-holing their sound.
The band was staunchly DIY, but managed to sidestep specific labels by incorporating a mixture of disparate post-rock and sludge/doom passages with crust punk influences as well as the incorporation of the infamous d-beat hardcore styled drumming; it was not used in the traditional way, however. Rather than basing songs entirely around d-beat galloping, they mastered the practice of slowly building up tension through evolution of structure in order to reach an explosive climax through d-beat itself. In a way, they applied post-rock logic to crust itself creating a d-beat hardcore crescendo equal to the popular post-rock approach. Although being the musical visionaries they were; they subverted this approach with several songs, sometimes plunging right into d-beat as the song starts and letting up gradually or simply having the d-beat section in the middle of the song or even having several d-beat passages scattered through the songs but always building up to said d-beat sections.
Additionally, Alex's guttural vocals approach became as iconic and recognisable as His Hero Is Gone/Tragedy's Todd Burdette although not surpassing him. Furthermore, Alex's lyricism put forth a very ambitious and advanced use of the English language in order to convey Efrafa's message in the most possible sober way. Their use of samples throughout their albums is also worth noting.
By doing all this, they are considered pioneers of the neocrust sub-genre, having expanded upon the sound of their forerunners, Tragedy. Early Efrafa saw them at their most neocrusty sound (Owsla era), then midway through their career (Elil era) they decreased their hardcore elements and added more post-influences (and even some folk/acoustic elements) with a crust/d-beat core still present although somehow more restrained, especially with their drummer who held back on purpose. Their last and final chapter (Inlé era) found them abandoning most of their crust roots in favour of a more pensive and atmospheric sound closer to post-rock than ever and not too far away from various popular atmospheric sludge/post-metal bands, therefore, forgoing d-beat entirely with only a few passages of crust riffing.
These distinct changes in sound during their trilogy may not have been arbitrary but rather on purpose, given that the trilogy itself runs in reverse order and it is also worth noting the trilogy is cyclical considering Owsla's opening cello melody can be faintly heard on Inlé's outro. The story repeats as those unable to learn from past mistakes are bound to repeat them. As such, Inlé would represent simply a more gloomy and already abject beginning with a society in the brink of collapse, then an upheaval starts taking form and conflict arises around Elil and finally things get violent with Owsla, causing the impending fall of Efrafa.
Although they completed various tours and shows, they rarely played live, instead spending most of their time writing and recording. They played their final show in Brighton, on December 5th, 2009.
Members have gone on to form other projects - Neil formed Blackstorm, a heavy rock and roll metal band; George formed an instrumental post-rock project with his brother called Movement of Leaves; Mikey joined the Austrian neocrust band Børedøm; and Alex started Light Bearer, a conceptual post-metal band, Anopheli, an emocrust band, Carnist, a DIY hardcore punk band, Momentum a neocrust band with most of Light Bearer's line-up, Morrow another neocrust band and Archivist, a Post-black/Sludge metal band.
Neil Kingsbury - guitar
Steven McCusker - guitar
Mikey Douglas - bass
George Miles - drums
Alex CF - vocals and lyrics
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