The Cleveland, Ohio-based band Frayle draws its singular power not from sheer volume, but from the dynamic between a whisper and a roar. It is a sound where immense, downtuned guitars meet ethereal, whispered vocals, a contradiction the band calls its “lullabies of chaos.” This deliberate juxtaposition serves as the band’s sonic signature, carving out their niche in a genre often defined by brute force.

This foundational aesthetic reaches its most potent expression with the release of their third full-length album, ‘Heretics & Lullabies.’ The album, scheduled for release on October 10, 2025, via the independent label Napalm Records, further distills the band’s core tension between tranquility and turmoil, marking a new phase in their mastery of gothic, atmospheric metal.

Frayle: The Origins of an Ominous Sound

When Frayle formed in 2017, its origins were humble. The group’s founders, vocalist Gwyn Strang and guitarist Sean Bilovecky, had a modest initial goal: to sell enough digital copies of an EP to cover their monthly web hosting fees. Yet within six months, their atmospheric blend of occult-themed doom metal and blackgaze resonated with an unexpectedly broad audience, attracting the interest of a European record label and leading to appearances at international festivals. It was an organic ascent that would become the band’s hallmark.

While Strang and Bilovecky form the band’s creative core, the studio project evolved around 2019 into a full five-piece touring and recording band, a transition that took them from a homespun project to an established international act. The live lineup is anchored by recurring members, including Elliot Rosen on rhythm guitar and Pat Ginley on drums, though the rhythm section has remained fluid—a common circumstance for many independent bands.

The band’s emotional candor found its rawest expression on its second album, ‘Skin & Sorrow,’ which was released on September 23, 2022. The album was born from the grief Strang endured during the COVID-19 pandemic, after losing several people close to the band. The title itself is a stark metaphor for that emptiness: the feeling that once joy has been stripped away, only skin and sorrow are left. For Strang, the act of writing became a form of catharsis, though the material was so personal she has said it is difficult to perform live.

A New American Gothic: Reinterpreting the Canon of Sorrow

This exploration of personal grief situates the band within a distinctly American tradition of melancholy. While the doom metal genre often draws from a European heritage, Frayle’s sound and thematic focus suggest they tap into a different, more American lineage of sorrow. Nowhere is this connection more powerfully articulated than in the group’s purposeful selection of cover songs, which they transmute into their own spectral visions.

While the band has reinterpreted genre staples like ‘Bela Lugosi’s Dead’ by Bauhaus, its most revealing choices lie outside the expected. A cover of Johnny Cash’s ‘Ring of Fire’ is particularly insightful. While re-imagining a song by a country icon known for his stark narratives of hardship, Frayle demonstrated a profound connection to a lineage of American music rooted in a brutal, unforgiving emotional truth. The result is less a stylistic crossover than an affirmation of a shared sensibility.

This interpretive impulse is also central to the group’s latest work. The band announced its new album with a reimagined version of Lana Del Rey’s ‘Summertime Sadness,’ a song that has become a touchstone for a particularly modern, cinematic melancholy. By taking a universally known pop song and saturating it with their unique heaviness and ghostly vocals, the band excavates the undercurrent of sorrow within the mainstream, claiming it as its own.

Together, these covers make a compelling case for placing Frayle within a modern American Gothic tradition—one rooted not in crumbling European castles but in the desolate landscapes of American folklore and the quiet anxieties of modern life.

‘Heretics & Lullabies’: A Compendium of Despair and Poetry

The forthcoming album, ‘Heretics & Lullabies,’ is a ten-song collection charting a deliberate emotional arc. The album’s title, which juxtaposes “heretics” with “lullabies,” encapsulates their American Gothic sensibility: finding solace in the shadows and offering comfort to those who feel like outsiders in a culture averse to profound sadness.

The record opens with ‘Walking Wounded,’ a previously released single that immediately establishes a funereal atmosphere. From there, the album moves through a heavy interpretation of ‘Summertime Sadness’ and into original material, such as the darkly atmospheric, mid-tempo anthem ‘Boo.’

Mid-album tracks like ‘Demons’ and ‘Glass Blown Heart’ signal a turn toward the macabre, while ‘Souvenirs of Your Betrayal’ promises a personal exploration of the despair that follows deception. The album’s intensity builds through a trio of aggressive tracks—’Run,’ ‘Heretic,’ and ‘Hymn for the Living’—before concluding with ‘Only Just Once,’ described as a droning, melodic masterpiece.

The album’s trajectory thus charts a carefully curated passage through various states of anguish, designed to culminate in a powerful, definitive statement.

The Ritual of Performance and Vision: ‘Walking Wounded’

This personal artistic narrative extends beyond music, shaping the band’s visual and performative realms as well. Their work is a comprehensive artistic endeavor, unified by a sense of ritual. The band’s music videos, for example, are not mere accompaniments but narrative extensions that use macabre settings to manifest the abstract emotions in the music.

For the video for the song ‘Walking Wounded,’ the band filmed inside the House of Wills, a decaying former funeral home in its native Cleveland. The location, steeped in its own history of grief, becomes a tangible manifestation of the band’s emotional terrain.

This sense of ritual culminates in their live performances, which the band frames as “dark ceremonies.” Strang has described her approach to the stage as what she calls a “spiritual exchange of energy” with the audience. Her stated aim is to forge a direct connection with concertgoers, fostering a shared understanding of the emotions explored in the music. The result is a palpable sense of community that transforms their concerts into sanctuaries for emotional expression.

This solemnity, however, belies a capacity for levity. During a recent tour, the band shared an anecdote about a prank war with the band Cradle of Filth, in which they dressed up as that group’s former guitarist, Ashok — known for his “pinhead” stage persona — and rushed the stage.

The story offers a glimpse of a playful dimension at odds with their grave artistic aesthetic. It is a multifaceted persona the band is scheduled to bring to the stage at the Tennessee Metal Devastation Festival on October 11, coinciding with the release of their new album.

Conclusion

Frayle’s reputation rests not on compromise, but on a steadfast commitment to a singular artistic vision. The band’s evolution from a homespun project to an internationally recognized act has been defined by a patient, organic growth. In a musical realm often defined by ephemeral trends, Frayle offers a sincerity that feels enduring. The group is not merely producing songs, but cultivating an immersive world—a space where sorrow is not an emotion to be feared, but one to be understood and shared.

This sincerity is what allows their “lullabies of chaos” to resonate, offering comfort not from pain, but within its shared acknowledgment. The new album, in its synthesis of the brutal and the beautiful, offers the clearest distillation of this purpose. It is a declaration that solidifies Frayle’s unique place within the American music scene, forging a sanctuary for those who seek not to escape the quiet, crushing weight of the world, but to find the strange beauty within it.