Wolves In The Throne Room - "Thrice Woven"

You know what I'm gonna say right about now, I love Black Metal.  Which is why when I first got introduced to Wolves In The Throne Room, I instantly was hooked.  However, I still have some slight reservations with their 2006 debut "Diadem of 12 Stars".  Most of my reservations come from the production.  I feel like in certain moments there are just too many moments that sound a little tinny, to be honest.  However, there were enough truly great moments to this album to justify its hour runtime, including both parts in the "Face in a Night Time Mirror" saga.  There were elements of doom metal, dark ambient as well as folk metal too, and I was interested to see where Wolves In The Throne Room would go next.  Thankfully, on their next album "Two Hunters", Wolves In The Throne Room brought their A game.  This album was absolutely incredible from start to finish.  The production just seemed too much richer and fuller, and the band began to bring in stunning elements of Dark Ambient to create some seriously beautiful passages as well.  But don't let the beautiful moments fool you, this album is absolutely brutal.  But I'm really kind of shocked when it came 2009's "Black Cascade".  For one, they were certainly going for more of a heavy, by the books Black Metal sound.  And that's all fine and dandy.  But they threw everything else out the window in a big way.  This album had zero atmospheres, and sounded like any old Black Metal band went Low-Fi on us.  I can't remember a single moment of this album that I was actually compelled.  Thankfully, Wolves in the Throne Room hit back hard with "Celestial Lineage".  This album was epic, beautiful at times, heavy enough for fans of the group, and more atmospheric than ever.  Now, let me just really emphasize that last point.  This album was by far the most atmospheric album yet.  Wolves in the Throne Room have always sort of dealt with Dark Ambient.  But my goodness this album was just so masterfully done.  So not only was this heavy enough to please fans of their early work, it gave us some really great new elements to appreciate too.   Now, in a lot of my reviews, I always find myself stopping and pointing out one element of a band's music, and pointing out how interesting it would be to hear them take on that element head on.  That's what Wolves in the Throne Room did in 2014 with "Celestite".  This album isn't a metal album, far from it actually.  This album from start to finish is a Dark Ambient album, a really good one too.  There are icy synths taken out of the playbook of John Carpenter, and really stunning and serene atmosphere's that you really have no choice but to get caught up in.  This was a really interesting experiment for the band and one that ended up working out great.  But I was ready for them to get right back to what they were born to do, make Black Metal.  Which they certainly did.  And these new singles have been absolutely soul crushing and epic in every way.  Let's talk about this explosive new Wolves in the Throne Room album.

    This album starts off with “Born From the Serpent’s Eye”.  It’s a very folky sort of intro, but it does set the mood very nicely.  When things get rolling around the 30-second mark, Wolves In The Throne Room sound right back to where they left off to be honest.  The drums are just as intense, with the grand and over the top guitars that I’ve come to know and love.  But I do have to say that some of the atmospheres aren't as thick as they once were.  Which does eventually get cleared up when some of those synths and backing instrumentation come in.  As far as vocals go, Nathan Weaver sounds just as twisted and blackened as ever.  You gotta take into consideration however just how refreshing this all is after not hearing any of this on the last album.  While towards the intro I was worried that this one was going to fail, “Born From The Serpent’s Eye” turned out pretty solid.  I say that because, honestly, at first it did sound like Wolves were scrambling to get their shit together.  But of course, they DO get it together.  And the result is sort of where you feel like they should be.  The heavenly choir vocals that come in as well are really done well.  It’s details like that that make this atmosphere so hulking.  I love all of these twisted fantasy elements that as well.  I gotta say, overall this is a solid intro from one of Black Metals finest.  If I had to make one slight criticism, I feel like they went a little backward with the production.  But outside of that, this is a great, brooding, dark Black Metal tune.  Then we have “The Old Ones Are With Us”, and I honestly feel like a lot of people are going to hear this and instantly think this is so damn cheesy.  But to an extent, that's what I love about the Black Metal genre.  The ability to be so campy and ridiculous is there, and I love that.  This opening monologue literally sums up everything that Wolves In The Throne Room have ever done, and the folky guitar plucking away literally makes it feel like some story told around the campfire.  What follows is pretty damn smooth.  While the production isn’t quite as stunning as I remember it being, this track has enough epic and grand instrumentals to really make this one go over well.  There are almost some shoegaze elements at this sort of chorus shortly after 2 minutes.   But it all works really nicely together.  I love just how soaring the guitars here are above the intense drums.  And while yes, to an extent Wolves may be reaching for this atmosphere a little too much, I think it works really well for the band.  Also, some of the Dark Ambient vibes they worked with so interestingly on the band’s last album are back in full force if you listen closely enough.  A little over halfway through “The Old Ones Are With Us”, we get a rehashing of that opening monologue, and sadly it doesn’t come off nearly as well.  But when this track returns to its brutal main riff, things get even more stunning.  The band’s more direct mix of Dark Ambient music with their usual Black Metal riffs is simply jaw-dropping.  So yes, there may have been a few moments on here where I was worried.  But overall, this track works really well.  “Angrboda” is probably the most direct track on the album.  This one doesn’t waste any time in trying to set a mood.  No, this one blasts directly into this very intense riff.   This track has some of the beefiest, thickest instrumentals we’ve heard from Wolves In The Throne Room yet, and I’ll be damned if Nathan has ever sounded more monstrous.  This track is a damn monster.  And while I do sort of wish the band took maybe 30 seconds to build up some atmosphere, in the beginning,  I can’t really say no to this.  On the other hand, I do feel like the dark ambient influences and droning synths floating through the background add a TON to this one.  But there’s actually a whole lot more going on within “Angrboda”.  Wolves have always sort of gone with this sort of Fantasy atmosphere, I mean just look at that damn cover art.  But here, it’s the thickest it’s been all album.  Also, this Mid-Track breakdown comes off so well for them, with those somber sounding strings and hulking backing orchestrations.  It all just makes this track come off massively, which it is.  Not to mention, some of the more quiet passages in the later moments, around the 7-minute mark are so well done.  It shows that Wolves pay so much attention to their atmosphere, which is what I look for in Black Metal.  And it makes the payoff so much better when it does show up towards the end of this track.  More importantly, it makes these hulking, 11-minute tracks a whole lot easier to swallow.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J7tU3oKOqRc

    “Mother Owl, Father Ocean” is up next, and this one starts building an atmosphere as soon as this one gets going.  However, I’m warning you.  This one is very quiet, and if you don’t like what Wolves did with Ambient and Dark Ambient on their last album you may want to skip this one.   But if you think that work was as brilliant as I did, this is going to rub you all the right ways.  The atmosphere here is so thick, and this almost angelic singing in the background really sets the mood for whats to come.  The backing instrumentals are stunning as well.  Obviously, this is by far the shortest track here, and there isn’t that much to talk about.  But it’s still solid and really ties these tracks together well.  Moving on, for all of you who weren’t quite into that, will be instantly woken right up by “Fires Roar in the Palace of the Moon”.  This track right from the intro is the most brooding one here, with some of the biggest drums we’ve heard here so far, as well as one of the most determined riffs Wolves have to offer.  To go from making a completely Ambient album, and to come back to record this album here is seriously impressive.  And while no, I don’t think this stands completely toe to toe with some of the band’s early work, this is easily some of the better Black Metal I’ve heard this year.  The intensity of the playing, the brilliant atmospheres, the devilish screams, this is all that I tune in for and have tuned in for years for.  But like I said, the dark ambient material they’ve worked with in the past continues to have a really strong grip on their current material.  So if that’s not your style you may very well not be into this at all.  But for me, while this may not be their best produced or heaviest release, it’s still solid.  

Rating: 7.8/10

Give A Listen To: “Born From The Serpent’s Eye”, “The Old Ones Are With Us”, “Angrboda”

Genre: Black Metal / Progressive Metal / Dark Ambient 

If You Dig This, Check Out: Wolves In The Throne Room - “Celestial Lineage”, Panopticon - “Roads To The North”, Agalloch - “The Serpent And The Sphere”

Overall Thoughts:  For anyone that was iffy on Wolves In The Throne Room's last album, and trust me there are plenty of you, you'll be happy to know that this album is back to business as usual.  This album consists of 5 tracks, which incorporate Black Metal, Folk Metal, Progressive Metal, as well as the band's usual curiosity with Dark Ambient music.  And while it's not nearly as wonderfully produced as some of the band's earlier albums, it's surprisingly solid. The riffs are intense, the atmospheres are heavy, and the band sounds just as monstrous.  If they get that production back on track, they can easily make another classic.