Wolvencrown – Celestial Lands (Review)

Wolvencrown are a black metal band from the UK and this is their second album.

After 2019’s very enjoyable Of Bark and Ash, Wolvencrown have now returned with the majestic Celestial Lands. Bigger, better, and more ambitious, the Wolvencrown of 2024 is a formidable force.

Wolvencrown play keyboard-enriched atmospheric black metal, and they do it very well. The music benefits from significant depth of substance, allowing the songs to gain a weight and presence over time that’s impressive.

With a duration of 60 minutes, Celestial Lands is a lengthier affair than its 45-minute predecessor, revealing an increased taste for longer composition. The number of songs on each album is the same, but Celestial Lands has both an intro and an interlude, allowing the individual songs themselves to reach wider and further than previously. Wolvencrown have moved their sound forward, into deeper, more immersive waters, and the result is gratifying. I normally, (rightfully!), complain about intros and interludes, but here they’re used well, building atmosphere and fitting in with the rest if the tracks quite nicely, despite their unimaginative titles, (oh come on, I had to moan about them in some way…).

Wolvencrown craft atmosphere that’s sorrowful and dark, with affecting melodies that cut deep to the heart of the matter. The record is melancholic throughout, lamenting the state of the natural world via atmospheric black metal that’s carefully crafted. There are furious riffs and harsh vocals, but these only exist to fuel the music’s mood-first approach. There is an epic side to the material, and a grandeur too. Both feed into the album’s overall sense of worldbuilding, but aren’t the point in and of themselves; the band’s mission is to portray sadness and woe, edged with anger, and these are just two of the tools available.

Celestial Lands is a strong album, and a great return from Wolvencrown. It’s an album that plays to the genre’s strengths, providing the listener with an absorbing soundscape to explore that’s easy to get lost in if you’re a fan of the atmospheric, melodically rich style. It’s not an album to rush, but to grow with over time, learning its landscape and getting to know its textured depths.

Very highly recommended for fans of bands such as Agalloch, Drudkh, Falls of Rauros, Fen, Saor, Winterfylleth, Wodensthrone, Wolves in the Throne Room, etc.