‘We have the will, A battle cry will sound out, Shrill against the night, And with it our retribution, The warren is empty’ (The Fall Of Efrafa)

Fall Of Efrafa were a Brighton based crust band, active between 2005 and 2009.  They formed with the express aim of releasing a trilogy of concept albums – The Warren Of Snares – based around the mythology of Watership Down.  The 1972 Richard Adams novel explores the trials of a group of rabbits whose warren is destroyed, and who find themselves trapped in the police state of Efrafa, under the tyrannical rule of General Woundwort.

The band used this mythology to explore themes of anti-authoritarianism, animal rights, atheism, and the power of community action.  Each of the three albums Owsla, Elil, and then Inlé takes its name from the Lapine language of the novel, and the trilogy is structured in reverse order, with the first album, Owsla, dealing with the climatic rebellion that sees Efrafa fall.

I must admit I rarely need much encouragement to delve into Fall of Efrafa’s discography.  However, the news that Alerta Antifascista are planning to reissue all three albums over the next year, beginning here with Owsla, is as good excuse as any.

Owsla was the band’s debut album and was released in 2006 and represented the first movement in the trilogy.  It opens with the sombre swell of cello and ominously foreboding spoken word, before immersing us into an evocatively conjured world.  Bleakly melodic crust forms the bedrock, soaring melancholy fuelled by waves of darkly metallic riffage, and braided throughout with mournful cello and flourishes of haunting post-metal.  It builds relentlessly towards cathartic peaks, where hopeful defiance succeeds in subverting the atmosphere of dread and fear.

From the raucous climax to Pity The Weak to the brooding escalation of Last But Not Least, it is a powerfully crafted album, reaching its euphoric zenith on The Fall Of Efrafa itself.  Indeed, it would take someone of admirable self-restraint not to find themselves roaring the ‘The warren is empty’ at the album’s rousing finale.  As those words die to a whisper on your lips, it is clear that the stirring impact of Owsla has not dimmed one iota since its release, and the themes that it examines are now more relevant than ever.