Find Some Respite with a Haunting New Release from Common Eider, King Eider

Ritual dark ambient collective Common Eider, King Eider have returned with their ninth release, a truly haunting quartet of compositions gathered under the title Shrines for the Unwanted, Respite for the Cast Aside. Alongside a live recording from a 2016 performance in Vienna, the album features four haunting, droning meditations comprised of "sticks, bone, antler, and voice," with shadowy percussion and rippling, elongated guitar riffs thrown in for balance.

Shrines for the Unwanted, Respite for the Cast Aside is predominantly a calm but quietly menacing listen. A vocal appearance by Sutekh Hexen's A.C. Way on the final new track "Litha" is downright startling—his harsh, ultra-distorted cries intentionally disrupt the album's otherwise peaceful procession, and make it quite clear that CEKE's days of folky, foresty introspection are long gone… or at least buried deep under the soil. I'm quite interested to see what happens on the band's next release—will it be back to basics, or is "Litha" a harbinger of blacker, bleaker sounds to come?

Time will tell. For now, the album is a co-release from Sentient Ruin and Feral Spirits, and is out April 7—preorders are live. Listen to it in its entirety below.

Kim Kelly is singing out on Twitter.