Fell Spur

Wayfarer is a four-piece band from Denver, Colorado, founded in 2011. The band's music combines elements of black metal with Americana, gothic country, and Western musical traditions, a combination closely associated with the so-called "Denver Sound" — a loose scene of Denver-based bands drawing on both extreme metal and American folk/country influences.

Shane McCarthy (guitar, vocals) founded the project in 2011, initially conceived as an instrumental endeavor before shifting toward a black metal direction. Drummer Isaac Faulk joined in 2012, bassist Jamie Hansen in 2013, and guitarist Joe Strong-Truscelli in 2016, completing the band's current lineup. Members of Wayfarer are also involved in other Denver-area projects, including Blood Incantation, Stormkeep, and Lykotonon.

Wayfarer's debut album, Children of the Iron Age, was released in 2014, followed by Old Souls (2016), and World's Blood (2018). In 2020, the band released A Romance with Violence, which received wider recognition and appeared on several year-end lists. The band's fifth album, American Gothic, followed in 2023 via Profound Lore Records (North America) and Century Media Records (Europe), and marked the band's most extensive combination to date of black metal songwriting with Western and Americana instrumentation, including slide guitar,[GU1] [PS2]  and organ.

Over the years, Wayfarer has performed at festivals including Roadburn, Fire in the Mountains, and Northwest Terror Fest, and has toured across North America and Europe.

Wayfarer's upcoming album, Riders of the Setting Sun, is set for release on November 6th through Vesperian. The record represents a further shift in the band's sound: while earlier albums balanced black metal with Americana elements, Riders of the Setting Sun moves further into stripped-back, acoustic-driven Western songwriting. Several tracks feature acoustic guitar, harmonica, and restrained arrangements, with the album's darker, more atmospheric passages built around space rather than density.

The album includes guest appearances by David Eugene Edwards (16 Horsepower, Wovenhand) and Munly J Munly (Slim Cessna's Auto Club, Munly & the Lupercalians), both figures associated with the gothic Americana and "Denver Sound" tradition that has long informed Wayfarer's music.