When Holy Fawn’s Death Spells made them the It Band of 2019, they were given a lot of praise for being one of the best new bands in the scene.

Problem there is that they weren’t exactly new. In fact, they had released their first album four years prior. But Realms sat in relative obscurity—even as Death Spells gathered them new fans. It sat as a sort of curiosity on their Spotify page, failing to offer the same crushing heaviness as the record we all came for.

However, as their star has continued to rise—thanks to tours with the likes of Thrice and Deafheaven—more and more fans found their way back to their debut. And while it might indeed lack the moments of black metal catharsis they’ve come to be known for, their trademark dazzling atmospheres and lush sonics were already in full bloom.

Much of my own reevaluation of Realms came after last year’s Dimensional Bleed. While the record offered many of the same metal elements as Death Spells, it also saw the band integrating more programmed beats and electronics. Taking their later two records out of context, it might seem like this is an experimental shift for them. But Realms reveals it as a return to form.

What Realms might lack in huge dynamic swings, it more than makes up for in dense soundscapes. “Can We Lie Here?” opens the record with a looping pitch-shifted guitar riff and skittering drum beat as washes of synth pads and reverberated guitar rise and fall. “Colossus” uses a short loop of feedback as a rhythmic element, bobbing beneath a drum machine and angular kit. “Amulet” leans even heavier toward the electronics, utilizing some 808ish tones beneath the shoegaze guitars.

And of course, it’s not like there is no heaviness here. There just isn’t any screaming. “Foal” features a climax as noisy as anything on Death Spells. “Glóandi” erupts with a bass fuzz that threatens to drown out the ambient guitars that persist even through the crescendo. “Lo” uses the last few minutes of its considerable runtime to burn down the sonic world they had created. There might even be some screaming buried under the impenetrable wall of distortion.

At only six tracks and thirty-four minutes, it straddles the line between full length and EP, which is likely another reason why it was overlooked for so long. But thanks in large part to this new vinyl edition (with a super cool die cut jacket and mirrored inner sleeve), Realms is finally getting the flowers it deserves.