First album review of the year, and (for once) a recent album, at that.

Hayden Anhedonia, otherwise known as Ethel Cain, has just released her fourth EP by the name of Perverts on January 8th. I have been waiting to review this work as a fan of her previous album, Preachers Daughter, and I was quite surprised to say the least.

The EP is described to be a droning, ambient piece with lyrical themes of perversion and religious shame that is expressed through the use of raw vocals, and to my surprise, plenty of pure instrumentals. My first mistake was listening to this alone in the dark, as the first track immediately made me feel unsettled. Despite it being a very interesting piece, the 12-minute song made me get up and turn on the lights. 

I haven’t explored the ambient, drone-y genre before, so perhaps I’m not the target audience for this work. After becoming familiar with Hayden’s previous albums, I was expecting this one to have a similar sound to it, and instead it brought me an hour and thirty minutes of eeriness. By the end, I was wondering if the voices were truly a part of the songs or in my head.

Another thing is that all the songs are quite long, ranging between 6 to 16 minutes in length, and most of them lack lyrics. There is a track that has no music and includes 15 minutes of Hayden giving some sort of religious monologue with a background consisting of a loud static buzz. That really intrigued me. Would it even be considered a song, or is it a podcast? 

Despite all this talk, I can’t say that I didn’t enjoy the EP. After seeing the promotions for this work, I knew that it would be a dark, eerie album, and knowing the type of music Hayden makes, there was no way that the album would be anything short of terrifying.

There were a couple songs that were softer like “Punish” and “Vacillator” that I ended up really enjoying, as well as a very interesting instrumental track called “Thatorchia” that was so dark but beautiful at the same time. I thought that this is surely what a fallen angel would be hearing while falling from heaven. Hayden also brought back the dark and distorted voice that was present in Preacher’s Daughter. In my interpretation, it almost feels like someone is talking to Hayden, whether that be God or someone she knows. 

Overall, it’s definitely not an album that I can shuffle-play while doing homework. It’s non-linear and dark, filled with long pieces of instrumentals and a lack of lyrics. I will have to let it marinate. It’s not that I don’t like it: I think it’s a very interesting work and, honestly, something I have never heard before. Hayden’s music has always intrigued me, and for that reason and I am very curious to see where she goes next, whether that be a continuation of the Ethel Cain lore or a completely unrelated storyline. 

My personal rating:

1: Punish

2: Thatorchia

3: Amber Waves

4: Vacillator 

5: Etienne

6: Perverts (Y’all, I’m not going to lie: this one still scares me.) 

7: Housofpsychoticwomn (This one too.)

8: Pulldrone