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- ALBUM REVIEWS -
- W -
- Wolves In The Throne Room [2009] Black Cascade -
Label: Southern Lord Records
Review by Psycho Mike
RATING: 9.75 \m/
To begin i just have to say that this album is an absolute gem and is in my top 3 black metal albums of this year. It captures the spirit of black metal that many bands are FAILING to get right, I just want to walk through a forest for hours and trance in this album's genius. I heard of this band early last year, I bought their sophomore ''Two Hunters'' and was an fan in no time. I had it on rotation at home and work for months and was patiently waiting for their next. It came in the form of an ep called ''Malevolent Grain'', it had 2 new songs and a lovely new logo to counter the junior kindergarden finger painting that was their old logo. I must be honest, i was really excited that there was new material until I heard it and I'm gonna be really brief on this but it was a step or 2 down from Two Hunters. A month and a half later ''Black Cascade'' is unleashed, I downloaded it first then bought it afterwards.
The first thing I noticed is a slight level up in production, it's still raw like 2 hunters but now the instruments have more breathing room and the drums a better punch and crack with no over abundance of blast beats, a good thing.The riffs are droning, haunting, dissonant,organic and it flows so well. The vocals bite your face off and spit them down your eye sockets. They nailed the production for this album. The ambience and atmosphere is second to none, it gives me goosebumps. Few albums really do that to me and for such a duration. This has to be one of the most atmospheric/ambient albums of the 21 century, it's very hypnotic and ethereal. It's done with no keyboards, don't get me wrong I like ambience with keyboards but it's nice when a band doesn't have to rely on them.
They're 4 songs - two at 10+ min and two at 14+ min. and I think that suits them best cause the songs are long and keep you interested the whole time. I'm gonna make a prediction and say that through out their entire career they'll never make an album more than four songs, lets see what happens. They really have matured on this album and stepped up their songwritting, it just grasps you like a anaconda and suffocates you to their realm. I love this album so much i'm having a hard time describing it to you, it's an experience you gotta hear for yourself that mere words can't describe. The lyrics are of nature, sorrow, enviromentalism,ecofeminism and left wing politics that are some of the most interesting topics coming out the scene today.
In conclusion, this is a very important band, true artists of their craft and I recommend this album to all black metal maniacs, as well their older material of course but this is their best thus far and the possibilities of these 4 Washingtonians is unlimited and scary if they can surpass each release, only time will tell. I missed them when they came to toronto this past may and heard it sounded better than the album, i will not miss they're next round through Canada i assure you. I only wish they got on the ball and made some new merch to go with the new album for fuck sakes, the only thing i've seen was a tour shirt. Horns way up to Cascadian Black Metal \m/ \m/
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