Watain - "TRIDENT WOLF ECLIPSE"

Sweden's Watain has been delivering crushing Black Metal since the early 2000's.  Their debut album, "Rabid Death's Curse", is considered by many to be one of the genres shining moments from this generation.  And I do certainly get that from listening to it a few times.  But I also have some issues with is.  I do love the absolutely visceral, all-out attack of Watain's music.  But the production to me, is a little suspect, being oftentimes muddy and almost Low-Fi.  Also, and I know this is just me, but I prefer my Black Metal to be much more grand and epic, which we did get a little taste of on the album's phenomenal closing track "Portem Sibi Consciscere".  But for me though, hearing 2003's "Casus Luciferi" instantly turned around my entire opinion of Watain.  This album was triumphant and much more grand in sound, and yes, the production was much cleaner.  But I wouldn't say that Watain suffered from that at all. As a matter of fact, this album is easily just as demonic and soul-crushing as the band's first album.  But just how driving and triumphant tracks like "The Golden Hors of Darash" and "Devil's Blood" are just made this album a blast to listen to.  Plus, tracks like "Puzzles ov Flesh" even brought in some slightly more melodic moments as well.  In 2007, Watain continued to get more polished with "Sworn to the Dark".  By this point, the production was squeaky clean and the vocals were more pronounced than ever.  Now, I still loved a lot of the very brutal, throttling tracks like "The Light that Burns the Sun" and "Underneath the Cenotaph".  But tracks like "Sworn to the Dark" and a few others flew right by without leaving any mark on me whatsoever.  Also, Watain on this album did seemingly start expanding their sound, bringing in some elements of Thrash Metal as well as other Metal sounds.  But when it comes to 2010's "Lawless Darkness", once again I'm sort of really not into what Watain were doing here.  Let's be clear, this is still a big, vicious Black Metal record.  But the absolute darkness that swept over the Swedish band for years seemed to be all but gone.  The resulting tracks are certainly alright, but that's about it.  To my shock though, I really didn't mind Watain's 2013 album "The Wild Hunt".  As a matter of fact, I ended up loving the hell out of that album.  Now, let's be real.  This is far from the abrasive and sinister Blackened Metal Watain once offered up.  As a matter of fact, this is easily Watain's most polished and ridiculously digestible album yet.  But it also contains some of the groups most epic and grand tunes yet.  And if you know me, you know I love my metal Cheesier than a Lifetime movie about Pizza.  So yea, Watain's "The Wild Hunt" really isn't bad at all.  So it's fair to say that my relationship with Watain is certainly complicated.  But surprisingly, these new singles from these Black Metal legends are really....solid?  They've taken the grandness I enjoyed on their last effort and combined it with the grittiness they burst on the scene with.  Let's chat about this album as a whole.

This album starts off with “Nuclear Alchemy”.  It’s a very determined intro, as Watain doesn’t waste any time.  But some of the details in the background are actually seriously nice, especially those keyboards of sorts (or at least it sounds like keyboards).  It ends up giving this track a very grand and majestic feel to say the very least.  It’s primal and aggressive, and the screams we’re hearing from Erik Danielsson are easily some of the most vicious I’ve ever heard from him.  I love just how grizzly “Nuclear Alchemy” is, with half of these guitars sounding like chainsaws in some sick movie.  Even the breakdowns just have this unbelievable grandness to them, especially with those subtle backing choir vocals.  It maybe isn’t as devilish as some of the band’s early material.  But still, this is a real jolt of quality Black Metal.  Up next is “Sacred Damnation”, and one thing I do have to say about Watain on this album is that they really are respecting the true greats of Black Metal.  Hell, bits and pieces of this track sound directly out of Emperor’s “In The Nightside Eclipse”.  The guitars are anthemic in a way that’s over-the-top as anything.  But the breakneck drum passages and vicious vocal performances are enough to rip everything melodic right out of this.  However, don’t be surprised if more than a few of these passages really stick with you.  Surprisingly enough, Watain actually pull out some sharp Progressive Metal elements as well, as “Sacred Damnation” as well as other tracks seemingly have a whole lot of passages with different personalities.  Now, let’s talk about the elephant in the room, the production.  Yes, it’s still very clean.  But it’s nowhere near as profiting as the last Watain album, even the mixing is a little grimier.  So far, it seems to me that Watain has really found a great balance between Melodic Black Metal and some of the grimy stuff that got them famous in the first place.  With “Teufelsreich” up next, Watain refuse to slow down.  While this isn’t as much of a crippling display of brute force, it does remain determined.  I absolutely love Erik Danielsson’s performance on this one, as his vocals here sound like he’s chanting some sacred text that’s just moments away from summoning some evil being.  It’s grizzly moments like this that make me come back to Black Metal albums, however.  The drums here are thunderous, and, the soaring guitars here are just the melodic touch that this one needed to help it stick with you.  Of course, if you’re not into Black Metal, this is all still going to be a lot to take in with a lot of these instrumentals seriously pummeling through everything in sight.  But for a band this far into their career who certainly have gone through some rough passages, this is brutal in all the best ways. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qGPYb2y_PDA

    Watain rage on with “Furor Diabolicus”, which certainly has a lot of the same elements which made some of the earlier tracks really likable.  But on this one, Watain does seem a little bit unfocused.  Too much of this track is all over the place, with some passages being on the more melodic side, while other instrumentals are straight up vicious.  Usually, that's fine by me, I’m always up for that sort of all-out assault.  But so many of the instrumentals on this one just seem like they’re playing on separate tracks with completely separate intentions.  “Furor Diabolicus” is quite frankly ugly, but not just in the usual Metal “IN YOUR FACE” ugly sort of way.  I do feel like a lot of the ideas on this one however are solid and could have been much better on another track, like those wailing guitars for example.  Watain does rebound quickly with “A Throne Below”, one of the more all-around perfect tunes here.  Everything about this one is Watain exactly where I want to hear them.  Every instrumental is right where it needs to be, pummeling everything in sight together.  I love just how brutal the drums are within this very dark and ridiculously over the top atmosphere.  And speaking of that atmosphere, it just gets bigger and better as those truly epic guitars blast in and soar over everything.  For me, “A Throne Below” in every way is exactly what I want to hear from Metal.  I love just how triumphant the instrumentals are and just how visual the lyrics are, not to mention the swirling and grandiose feel.  While yes, the production on this album could have easily been more grizzly, this is by the books Black Metal in the best way.  Then we have “Ultra (Pandemoniac)” which has a brilliant intro, as Watain end up painting the absolute perfect portrait of a barren wasteland after some grueling fight.  What follows is easily some of the heaviest material here, almost bringing in some elements of Thrash Metal.  Everything about this one just seems like the next level for Watain, like someone took some of the best moments here and soaked them with blood.  Some of the little details, like the staccato growled chorus just reels you in so well.  There’s little about “Ultra (Pandemoniac)” that isn’t grizzly, but it certainly works.  My only slight complaint is that I really wish this was a little more epic in feel.  But we even get that eventually in some of the late, unhinged guitars.  Even those maniacal laughs at the end are so campy and cliche.  But to be honest, in Metal that's what I want to hear. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ULpXfXb2QuE

    “Towards the Sanctuary” is up next, which once again has a much more intense and straightforward feel as far as the instrumentals go.  But it’s moments like this that quite frankly miss the mark for me in a big way.  The instrumentals are intense and commendably vicious.  But there’s not nearly as much personality, which is something I crave in metal.  So yes, the drums are just as brilliant and intense, and the guitars are occasionally melodic and always crushing.  But for me, “Towards the Sanctuary” is a low point. “The Fire of Power” up next, on the other hand, really takes another direction.  This track is so much slower paced and calculating, but in the very best way.  Erik Danielsson’s performance once again is a real standout, as he comes off almost like some Satanic preacher.  That, among other elements, makes “The Fire of Power” absolutely bleed with personality.  It’s grizzly, over-the-top and evil to almost a cartoonish level.  But that makes “The Fire of Power” come off as so much more captivating to me.  The instrumentals around Erik Danielsson’s performance are often tightly wound, but come alive just enough to bring out some of the album’s more ridiculously epic moments.  Watain, for the future, some more of this please, even if it isn’t nearly as intense and throttling.  This album ends off with “Antikrists Mirakel”.  Once again, it shows Watain going for a much more sluggish and brooding sound.  It’s not nearly as pristine or as clean as the rest of the album, however, just the opposite.  The instrumentals on this one are actually seriously muddy and ugly.  Now, I do really get what they were going for with this, because “Antikrists Mirakel” is straight up chaos.  Controlled chaos maybe, but chaos nonetheless.  Even though this one is sluggish and much more tame on its surface, there’s just so much going on underneath.  Erik Danielsson’s performance is hypnotic, even though most of the track his vocals are practically inaudible.  But outside of that, all of these instrumentals just sort of bleed into one another in this very grizzly display.  Overall, “Antikrists Mirakel” comes off as some deranged Black Metal nightmare.  But man, does it ever work for Watain.  I wouldn’t say this is a real standout of the album, just because a lot of this does still blend together in a very muddy mess.  But, it ends the album off solidly and proves that Watain still has plenty of gas in the tank.  

Rating: 7.8/10

Give A Listen To: “Nuclear Alchemy”, “Sacred Damnation”, “A Throne Below”, “The Fire of Power”

Genre: Black Metal

Overall Thoughts:  Watain on this album in a way do really grab a sort of the best of both worlds as far as their sound goes.  The production here is easily just as polished and finely tuned as some of their more recent output, and even still has some of the more melodic passages that have shown up recently.  But this is also easily the darkest and most sinister recording Watain have whipped out since their early days.  “Trident Wolf Eclipse” is equal parts a grand and epic Black Metal album that salutes the true classics, while bringing in just enough raw power and vicious performances that gives this album some real teeth. Is it anything truly new for the genre? No, not at all.  But it’s a refreshing album for some Black Metal veterans.