Wayfarer

Wayfarer were formed in Denver, Colorado, in 2011 by guitarist and vocalist Shane McCarthy. They started out as a fairly traditional black metal band, but soon began to call their music black metal of the American West, bringing in the twang of Americana, gothic country and the history of the Rocky Mountains.

The debut Children of the Iron Age came out in 2014, followed by Old Souls in 2016. World’s Blood (2018), their first album for Profound Lore Records, brought the band wider attention.

A Romance with Violence (2020) was built like a novel, its songs telling stories of frontier life in the late 1800s, and it established Wayfarer as one of the most distinctive bands in American black metal.

American Gothic, their fifth album, was produced by Arthur Rizk and released on 27 October 2023 through Profound Lore in North America and Century Media in Europe – a dusty, gunpowder-scented look at the dark side of the American dream. A new album, Riders of the Setting Sun, is due in November 2026.

Current line-up: Shane McCarthy (vocals, guitar), Joe Strong-Truscelli (guitar), Jamie Hansen (bass, vocals), Isaac Faulk (drums).