Wilt are a Canadian Black Metal band and this is their début album.

Wilt play Atmospheric Black Metal that takes its time, fleshing out its expansive vision with Doom-drenched splendour and releasing negative vibes for all to feel and react to.

Despondent and glorious, Wilt play music that doesn’t lack for bite or venom, despite the fact that they know how to foster mood and atmosphere. Here, the two go hand in hand with a Blackened spite that seems to coast along the seas of guitars like a predator looking for prey.

The main bulk of this album is taken up by three long songs that are textured soundscapes writ large in considered, resplendent Black Metal. The riffs and melodies used are subtle and overpowering at the same time, creating songs that know when to use a splash of colour, and when to use shades of darkness.

Blast beats appear on occasion, underscoring the band’s Blackened core, but the majority of the material is slower and devoted to dark auras. Mind you, this is not too different a situation when the drums are going fast, as the main intention is not one of brutality, merely a dramatic emphasis on the shadowy feelings that the band evoke.

A Post-Metal influence can be heard in some of the guitar melodies, although this is only an aspect of their songwriting and is subsumed by the general Blackness and atmosphere of the music; Wilt can’t really be described as a Post-Black Metal band.

And the vocals? Despairing screams that stop short of the Depressive style, but not by much. Needless to say, you can’t go wrong with vocals like this and the singer’s performance works as a focal point for the ever-expanding atmospheres of the music. Creeping whispers also appear on The Elder, working gently to soothe the listener before the darkness closes in once more.

In the spirit of Epic Black Metal and the Cascadian style, Wilt have crafted a worthy addition to the sub-genre for anyone who likes this kind of music.