Blackwater Holylight Rewrites The Doomgaze Bible on “Not Here Not Gone”

The all-female trio’s first full-length in five years!

The scope of modern music is so vast that almost everything and anything is dubbed under a specific subgenre. In the case of Blackwater Holylight, the all-female trio are the queens of ‘doomgaze.’ Their sound is rooted in doom metal, drawing obvious influence from Monolord and Weedwater, yet interjects shoegaze overtones, akin to My Bloody Valentine and Cocteau Twins, providing many textural layers. Coupled with introspective lyrics about vulnerability and empowerment, it makes for one of the more effective fusions of contrasting styles. 

Blackwater Holylight’s quest for ethereal heaviness began 10 years ago in their hometown of Portland, Oregon. They signed to RidingEasy Records and released their psych-leaning self-titled debut in 2018. Veils of Winter, the sophomore album released the following year, developed a more doomier sound. 2021’s Silence/Motion broadened the group’s musical palette by integrating guttural vocals and string arrangements. Since Blackwater Holylight parted ways with RidingEasy, they relocated to Los Angeles, signed to Suicide Squeeze, and released the If You Only Knew EP. Now, the trio broke the five-year dry spell from their last full-length album and redefined their sound on Not Here Not Gone.

Opener “How Will You Feel” is the album’s mission statement, repeating a single verse against a bed of distortion and stratospheric instrumentation. “Involuntary Haze” shifts between subdued verses and explosive choruses that leave room for Sunny Faris’ passionate vocal delivery. These two tracks establish a deep yet lush aura that trails across the entire album, but it doesn’t cancel out Blackwater Holylight’s doom influence on “Bodies,” pairing heavy riffage with seductive harmonies. Minimalistic lyrics aside, the low and slow arrangement of “Heavy, Why” handles the song’s gruntwork. Sarah McKenna’s underlying whirling synths and Mikayla Mayhew’s tremolo-picked guitar provide the track’s intensity. An ambient interlude, “Giraffe,” leads into the album’s heaviest track, “Spades.” It’s a heavy metal melting pot, weaving together Black Sabbath-esque riffs, chugging guitars, quirky time signature changes, and Eliese Dorsay’s rapid-fire double kick drum patterns. 

Amidst the darkness around Not Here Not Now, “Void to Be” is the album’s silver lining. It features Faris’ vocals sounding more natural than shrouded, cleaner tones, and a simple yet memorable guitar solo.“Fade” reels the album back into a familiar haze of dreamy atmospheric chords. The slow-driving “Mourning After” sways and morphs from calm lyrical passages to dynamic instrumental breaks. Like every Blackwater Holylight album, it always builds to a quasi-progressive closer; this time, it’s “Poppyfields.” An unaccompanied guitar sets the scene, and the rest of the band ominously vamps into an abrasive wall of blast beats and dense textures. Once it climaxes during the final chorus, Camille Getz’s violin solo provides a calm, resolving feeling to the album’s finale. 

The witchy visual aesthetic of the “Heavy, Why” music video finds its way into the album’s artwork. Though standard copies come in a single-pocket sleeve and on red vinyl, the deluxe edition, limited to 500 numbered copies, features a gatefold spread of the group, a 12-page booklet of additional imagery, and comes pressed on stunning magenta/black hi-melt vinyl. 

Translating heavy metal bands to vinyl is a challenge, let alone one that interjects light and shade like Blackwater Holylight. Surprisingly, this pressing has plenty of air in the top-end, which helps elevate Sunny Faris’ vocals in the mix. It also emphasizes the lighter qualities of the group’s sound, like the reverb-soaked chimey guitars in “Fade” filling up the soundstage. The bottom end is toned enough that Eliese Dorsay’s kick drum has a tight attack, and the heavy guitars on “Bodies” and ‘Spades” sound more muscular than bloated. Even the blast beat section in “Poppyfields” delivers the right type of intensity, whereas it could’ve sounded like a trainwreck if mastered poorly. When certain tracks like “Involuntary Haze” and “Mourning After” establish an initial subtle foundation, the explosive transitions into their respective choruses and instrumental passages sound three-dimensional. 

Every album Blackwater Holylight releases further refines their unique blend of sonic approaches. Not Here Not Gone successfully boils the group’s sound to its purest essence and will take any listener on a deep journey.