Of all the variables in the careful calculus I use to decide what records to buy, Opportunity is perhaps the one with the most gravity. True, I often hunt with laser-focused intentions. But other times, a record will simply present itself to me in an opportunity that I cannot resist.

For instance: I had heard London blackgazers Fen before purchasing this record—how could I not? They pop up in the “Fans also like” section of just about all of my favorite metal bands. If I’m honest though, none of my preemptive listens compelled me to track down any copies.

But then, while foraging through the shelves of Amoeba Records in San Francisco, I found a copy of their debut full-length for an agreeable price. And I couldn’t have been more thrilled. Listening to the album in one earbud as I continued to browse, I was taken by the sweeping post black metal epics which affirmed my decision to buy over and over again.

It’s important to remember the state of blackgaze in 2009. Alcest had released Le Secret EP four years prior, giving the subgenre its birth. A couple years later, they released Souvenirs d’un Autre Monde, and while both of these records are great, neither were as revolutionary as Ecailles de lune, which would follow. Amesoeurs had released one EP, but it failed to get much attention at the time, and felt more post-punk than post-black metal. Scene giants like Les Discrets and Lântlos hadn’t formed yet, or were playing more traditional black metal. Sunbather wouldn’t cause blackgaze to detonate into the broader cultural consciousness for another four years—Deafheaven wouldn’t even form until the following year.

Yet here is Fen, deftly crafting their own mixture of the same ingredients several years before blackgaze would become the hottest movement in the metal scene (and this time, Niege isn’t even involved!). The Malediction Fields has everything a good blackgaze album needs: cinematic post rock dynamics, lush shoegaze atmospheres, and loads of black metal catharsis. Fen’s take skews a little more kvlt than most of their contemporaries, feeling more ancient and pagan than Niege’s luminescent spiritualism. It’s not unlike Wolves in the Throne Room in that regard, but it’s not nearly as trad-black as that project.

Songs shapeshift several times throughout their lengthy runtimes (the shortest song is 6:58), changing keys, volume, and time signatures with mercurial nimbleness (I haven’t  heard so much 6/8 in a black metal album that wasn’t by Alcest). Vocals range from black metal shrieks to subdued cleans. Guitars move between distorted tremolo picking, spacious arpeggios, shoegazy strums, and even some moments of NWOBHM. Drums employ sections of sheering blastbeats between moments of anthemic half time and straight ahead four-on-the-floor. The bass is especially acrobatic, frequently freeing itself from the tyranny of its lower strings to dance through melodic lines at the top of its range. The occasional synth pad swells fill out the atmosphere.

It’s hard to pick highlights since each track takes such a meandering and wonderful journey. Opener “Exile’s Journey” is as fitting a thesis statement as an album can make, employing all of the album’s elements like an overture. “Colossal Voids” feels like a standout—mostly by virtue of it being the first track with a true vocal melody—but it eventually explodes in the same black metal fury as the rest of the tracks. Closer “Bereft,” ten seconds shy of twelve minutes, is as epic a blackgaze track as I’ve ever heard. The vinyl edition includes two bonus tracks—”The Spell of Reckoning” and “The Untended Altar”—which show off even more of their Iron Maiden worship and ambient sides respectively.

It’s a little rough about the edges—it’s easy to take for granted just how natural the fusion of these genres has become at the hands of Alcest and Deafheaven in the last couple of decades. But that roughness is almost refreshing, especially with how many oversanitized, overpolished blackgaze bands have popped up since Sunbather. It might not get the same love as other European 2010s blackgaze albums, but The Malediction Fields is a special record that deserves to be listed alongside other monuments in the genre.