Wolves in the Throne Room – Page 7

Dead to a Dying World – Litany (Review)

Dead to a Dying World are a Blackened Doom band from the US and this is their second album.

Featuring a wealth of instruments and influences, this is an epic album that lasts 73 minutes and takes the listener on a tour of all of the dark places.

The bedrock of the band’s sound is grim, murky Black Metal; this immediately differentiates them from some other Blackened Doom bands as usually the style is predominantly Doom with added Blackness; here it’s a good mix of two, probably leaning towards the Black Metal side of the equation a little more overall. There’s plenty of serrated Blackened parts to keep the blood pumping.

Elements of Crust, Post-Metal and pure Doom work their magic in among the blood-fed trees of the Black Metal forest in which the music grows. Litany is powerful, wonderful, ambitious and terrifying in equal measure. Taking aspects of bands like Hope Drone, Neurosis, Wolves in the Throne Room, Myrkur, Usnea, Nux Vomica, Bergthron, Lycus and a whole host of others, this is an impressive body of music that brings something different to the table with each track, all within the established framework of the band.

Sharp Blackened screams are juxtaposed with softer cleans, both male and female. Dark growls populate the undergrowth and harsh, rolling shouting stabs in like spikes. Guest vocals appear throughout the album, making the entire performance varied and interesting for the listener.

The overall feeling is one of a refined, sombre misery. Viola and other instruments give the music an additional air of sophistication and Dead to a Dying World are nothing if not accomplished at the spells they weave; the band are adept at creating thick atmospheres and dark moods.

The recording has a sickly, unnatural warmth to it, like something alive that shouldn’t be. It’s soft when it needs to be and roiling, churning and destructive at other times.

This is a long, involving and emotive listen that builds, crests and waves through the six tracks like a dark tsunami, crushing and destroying yet followed by calm and retrospection, reflecting on all that has been lost.

A very special album.

Chiral – Night Sky (Review)

Chiral is an Italian one-man band. This is his second album.

I have enjoyed watching Chiral’s development over the course of his releases that he’s put out so far. From the primitive Proto-Death/Black Metal of Winter Eternal, to the frozen Blackened landscape of Abisso, to the more ambitious Atmospheric Black Metal of his splits with Haate and Nebel Über Den Urnenfeldern/Eternal Sleep…the brain behind Chiral as consistently impressed with both the quality of his music and his progression within it.

So what of this latest release then? Showing that he doesn’t sit still, Night Sky continues the previously developed themes of Atmospheric Black Metal, only this time adding a Post-Black Metal element to the music, resulting in an album that favours mood and texture over all else.

For a surface comparison to to other bands, I’d say Night Sky combines elements of Wolves in the Throne Room, Falls of Rauros, Falloch, Vinterriket, and Opeth.

The songs are long and ambitious tracks that show a love of both Black Metal and a more naturalistic sound that is quite atavistic in its realisation. Folk melodies and influences would be an appropriate description, although it feels somehow older than this.

Acoustic passages, Folk instrumentation and Progressive Metal tendencies work together with the icy, Blackened core to create Atmospheric Post-Black Metal that takes in many influences over the 58 minutes of material and ably demonstrates the talent and skill of Chiral.

These songs are slow-builders; ramping up the atmosphere and emotional content over the span of the playing time and layering just enough keyboards and extra instrumentation on top to really provide a consistent sense of space, flavour and feeling.

So there you have it. Another quality Chiral release, his best work yet I’d say.

Fans of Atmospheric Black Metal take note.

Ahamkara – The Embers of the Stars (Review)

Ahamkara are from the UK and play Atmospheric Black Metal. This is their début album.

This is Black Metal with epic length songs and a windswept feel.

This is the kind of album that’s the soundtrack to exploration. It’s the Blackened equivalent of a map of uncharted territories and frost-worn mountains.

The Embers of the Stars is bitingly cold and achingly sensual in equal amounts. These songs are emotive and expressive, infused with the raw energy of nature and the passion that goes along with this.

Heartfelt guitars and subtle synths provide the rasping vocals with a rich background on which to scream out into the heavens.

This sweeping music is perfect for Black Metal that’s inspired by nature and seeks to channel it via a darkened Metal route. Each of these songs is extremely well composed and gives the feeling of really being in the raw, dangerous outdoors.

This is the kind of epic, atmospheric music that has been characterised well by the Cascadian scene, even though this is from the UK. Fans of Wolves in the Throne Room, Altar of Plagues, Agalloch, Fen, Skagos, Fauna, Wodensthrone, (who share a member), etc., will be very at home with Ahamkara. However, whereas a lot of these bands have Post-Metal qualities to their sound, Ahamkara substitute these for shades of the mighty Emperor and thus are more “pure” Black Metal than not.

Really top quality work like this should always be supported. Listen and become enthralled.

Dust Sculptures – Far Above The Pines (Review)

Dust Sculptures is a US Post-Black Metal band consisting of one person – this is his second release.

An album like this would be a very impressive achievement even if it was the product of a full band, never mind that this is all from one person. The musicianship and songwriting is first rate.

This is a blend of Black Metal, Shoegaze, Progressive Rock and Post-Rock; the various elements are skilfully combined into this release so that you never quite know what exactly you’re going to get next, yet it all gels together and flows seamlessly from one part to the next, from one song to the next.

All of the genre/sub-genre tags above essentially let you know that this is an album that takes a Black Metal base and builds it into something more. The songs have real depth and lasting power. There is a lot of music to explore here and that feels like the essence of the album to me; an exploration through an unknown wilderness.

Soft, crooning clean vocals share space with tortured screams and Blackened agonies. Like the instruments the vocals are perfectly judged and performed flawlessly.

Shades of modern-day Anathema can be heard alongside Blackened parts. Post-Metal highs and Shoegaze wanderings rub shoulders with blast beats and dark melodies. Progressive keyboards and chaotic riffs work together to build sound structures greater than the sum of their parts.

It’s clear that a lot of care, love and attention has gone into the making of this album. Every last part of it has had a lavish amount of focus placed on it and this has resulted in an album that’s a true revelation.

This is for fans of expressive giants like Deafheaven, Enslaved, Wolves in the Throne Room, et al.

Albums like this don’t come along very often and when they do they spirit you away on a very special journey. Let Dust Sculptures be your guide.

This is one for the album of the year pile, methinks.

Get this.

Myrkur – Myrkur (Review)

Myrkur is a one woman Black Metal project from Denmark. This is her début EP.

Myrkur combines the rawness and bleakness of second-wave Black Metal with ambient and atmospheric sounds to create frostbitten and ice-filled sonicscapes that scar the imagination and enchant the brain.

Ethereal clean female vocals and raw Black Metal mix in such a way that helps the music to transcend the usual genre constraints and become something greater than the sum of its parts.

There are medieval influences to some of the guitar sounds, (when they’re not wrapped in grim darkness of course), and even a touch of the Post-Metal/Post-Black Metal on occasion.

Think a pared down Wolves in the Throne Room, or a more atmospheric Darkthrone, or a less synth-powered Vinterriket; add angelic female vocals and this is the space Myrkur inhabit. It’s not all beauty however as she can also scream and shriek with the best of them when needed.

It’s rare that you find harsh Black Metal skilfully interweaved with music that’s atmospheric and epic in scope. Here the two are thoughtfully and flawlessly intertwined. Usually this is only accomplished by the elite and cream-of-the-crop bands like Agalloch.

Add to this a softer feminine touch that usually, if incorporated into Metal at all, just sounds tacked on; here it’s an integral, fully embedded and realised part of the Myrkur experience.

And to think, this is only a début EP. Imagine what she can do with a full album of material? The mind boggles. The mind can’t wait.

Haate – As The Moon Painted Her Grief (Review)

Hailing from Italy, Haate is a one-man project playing Dark Ambient music.

I must confess to being naturally suspicious of releases of this nature as so often they can be excuses for basically doing nothing for minutes on end and I just get bored. However, when done right such as with the latest by Wolves in the Throne Room it can be very good indeed.

Haate immediately impress by actually having changes and progression in the tracks. There are three long songs here, (34 minutes in total), and even a few minutes into the first song there’s a fair bit going on.

Haate specialises in dark atmospheres and gloomy introspection. It’s like someone has really paid attention to all of those musical proto-Classical interludes/intros on 90’s Black Metal albums and decided to create a full album out of it all. This is merely an observation, however, not a criticism, as the resulting work is surprisingly, (to me), good.

There’s a fair bit of substance here, and we even get some low-in-the-mix Black Metal vocals and blastbeats. This is most unexpected but most welcome.

In addition to the synths and keyboards there are other, quasi-industrial sounds and noises accompanying proceedings and these add a level of darkness to the textured music. It sometimes gives the impression of inorganic breathing, which is a vaguely unsettling sound and really enhances the songs.

I’m impressed with this. Cynically I didn’t think it would be very enjoyable and I’m very pleased that I’m wrong. And do you know what? The more I listen to it the more I like it. It’s shockingly good.

For Black Metal fans who don’t always need the Metal part.

Wolves in the Throne Room – Celestite (Review)

Wolves in the Throne Room are from the US and play Cascadian Black Metal, at least they do normally.

Celestite is different. Stylistically still rooted in the Black Metal genre, the band have stripped out the drums and vocals and instead created five atmospheric soundscapes to captivate and entrance the listener.

Synth-based exploration and orchestrated Blackened sonics give this the air of an extended film soundtrack. This is cinematic music with grand musical vistas and sweeping arcs of ambitious beauty.

In the wrong hands this could easily sound trite or just plain dull, but Wolves in the Throne Room prove that they can take the atmospheric build-and-release dynamics that they honed so perfectly on their Black Metal work and transfer this intact to the compositions on Celestite.

This is an album crafted with lofty aims and I’m pleased to say that it works. Each track successfully conjures the majesty of celestial imagery and awe-inspiring wonder at the breathtaking scenery that nature can deliver. The album cover is truly appropriate at putting across just what the music feels like.

This may be an experiment for the band compared to their usual work but it’s a roaring success. The ideal accompaniment to watching the night sky.

The Lion’s Daughter & Indian Blanket – A Black Sea (Review)

I’ve been following The Lion’s Daughter for a while now and enjoyed their previous outings into the world of Blackened Sludge, so when I found out they were collaborating on an album with Folk group Indian Blanket I was intrigued.

I wasn’t sure what to expect upon pressing play, but it wasn’t this. I though it might be good, but this? This is a jaw-droppingly stunning album. In much the same way that Panopticon successfully incorporated bluegrass into Black Metal on their album Kentucky; The Lion’s Daughter and Indian Blanket, against all odds, have managed to successfully incorporate Folk into Sludge. The results are as astounding as they are fantastic.

If only I had heard and reviewed this at the end of 2013 it would probably have topped my end-of-year list I can tell you that now.

The album combines heaviness and softness in equal measure, using the best tools for the job depending on the needs of the song. Regardless of style it’s always dark, always emotionally charged and always tinged with melancholy.

Sludge Metal and acoustic passages; blast beats and strings; raw-throat shouts and delicate crooning; it’s all here. Taking the very, very best bits of bands like Neurosis, Isis, Year Of No Light, Agalloch and Wolves in the Throne Room then combining them with haunting Folk-inspired orchestration and Dax Riggs-style acoustics and vocals; this is a masterpiece of music awaiting discovery by any Metal fan looking for the best in unconventional heavy music.

To the cynical reader this may all smack of hyperbole, but the simple fact is that I absolutely love this album and it really is just that good. Do yourself a favour and get it immediately.

Absolutely brilliant.