Aldheorte are a black metal band from the US and this is their second album.
The Wild Divine is a 37-minute dose of classic black metal darkness. Aldheorte play their material with icy aggression and despondent atmospheres. If you’re a fan of bands from the 90s era, then you won’t want to miss this gem.
Aldheorte favour a traditional approach to black metal, and they play it well. Listening to it you can feel the cold nights drawing in, as the moon escapes its daytime fetters and the wolves howl in hunger. The Wild Divine is well-named, evoking not only a primal fury, but the sort of otherworldly spiritual violence that only black metal can manifest.
The Wild Divine may be a product of the here and now, but it feels like it should have been birthed decades ago. It offers such a well-rendered vision of blackened supremacy that it becomes ageless in essence. Who cares when Aldheorte truly unleashed their spectral might on the world when it’s a strong as it is? The album has the sort of songs that, if you’re an adherent of the style, you simply love to hear. It’s interesting, as while you can clearly hear the band’s influences in their music, they boast a voice of their own that’s just close enough to the source material to feel timeless, yet has enough of its own presence to be worthy in its own right. Truly, this is well-written, well-executed, and sharply enjoyable.
The Wild Divine delivers a piercing injection of potent, adrenaline-charged poison. It gets the heart pumping, while simultaneously freezing it solid. Aldheorte understand mood, pacing, dynamics, and structure, but they also understand raw passion and compelling riffs.
As a hymn to orthodox black metal, The Wild Divine excels. As a slice of authentic devotion, it’s hard to beat. This is as old-school as it gets in many ways, and it’s absolutely fierce.
Aldheorte have impressed. It’s not actually that easy to play something so ancient and well-worn and have it sound as vital and as lethal as it does on The Wild Divine.
Essential listening for any lovers of classic black metal.
Wonderbox Metal 