Taking their name from the Fenlands, a marshy coastal plain in Eastern England, Fen is a blackgaze/post-metal group that casts icy slabs of moribund atmospherics and cascading riffs that evoke the spectral black metal of bands like Agalloch and Wolves in the Throne Room. Emerging in 2009 with The Malediction Fields, the band has continued to refine its post-black metal aesthetic with acclaimed releases like Carrion Skies (2014) and The Dead Light (2019). Founded in 2006 and comprising the Watcher (vocals, guitars, synths), Grungyn (bass, vocals), and Havenless (drums), Fen inked a deal with Code 666 shortly after forming and released their debut EP, Ancient Sorrow, in 2007. A second EP, Onset of Winter, arrived in 2008, followed by the group's first full-length effort, The Malediction Fields, in 2009. Festival appearances, including a performance at the Damnation Festival in 2010 alongside contemporaries Sabbat and Lawnmower Deth helped to establish the group in the U.K. extreme metal scene, and they built upon that momentum with the release of 2011's well-received Epoch. A split EP with Sweden's De Arma arrived later that year and in 2012 Fen released their third studio long-player, Dustwalker. Carrion Skies was issued two years later, with a second split EP, this time with Russian occult metallers Sleepwalker, arriving in 2016. The cold, bleak, and epic (and aptly named) Winter was released in 2017, with Dead Light (the group's sixth LP) appearing in 2019. ~ James Christopher Monger