Wolves In The Throne Room
Event on 2012-01-28 20:00:00
Wolves In The Throne Room (olympia, wa)
During the Summer of 2002 at an Earth First rendezvous in the Cascade mountains of Washington State, guitarist Nathan Weaver was inspired to create a band that merged a Cascadian eco-spiritual awareness with the misanthropic Norwegian eruptions of the 90's. Themes of ancientness, apocalypse, connection to place and the struggle to find meaning and spirituality in a mechanical and materialistic world would be woven together in a singular alchemy.
In the spring of 2004, Nathan and his brother, drummer Aaron Weaver, moved to a dilapidated farmstead on the outskirts of Olympia, WA. The creation of their farm-stronghold, called Calliope, would be intrinsically linked to the development of Wolves in the Throne Room. It was during the first long, dark winter living in the collapsed farmhouse at Calliope that the band developed their trance-inducing sound and solidified the burning intent that would animate the band's music.
Since that time Wolves in the Throne Room have become one of the most important and highly regarded bands in extreme music. Their three studio records, Diadem of 12 Stars, Two Hunters and Black Cascade have been widely praised by everyone from underground zine writers to the New York Times.
Album Reviews:Malevolent Grain
http://www.chroniclesofchaos.com
10 out of 10
Kostas Sarampalis-
Cast back to the early days of you discovering this music that you love. After the first contact, the first few bands that you liked and started exploring their discography, after delving a bit deeper in the different genres, as you started forming your likes and dislikes. The first encounter with Candlemass and doom. Your first CDs (Stratovarius' _Dreamscape_ and Skyclad's _Prince of the Poverty Line_, if you ask). Beyond Dawn's first EP and that moment when you realised you stumbled upon something new. Picking up your jaw from the floor after listening to Solefald's debut album. _Mandylion_. Arcturus' "Fall of Man". You get the idea. Cast your mind back to all these moments.
Moments. If you put aside the pleasure of discovering something new in this music, you wait for them moments. And if you are lucky, they are not too far off between them. Seven minutes into "A Looming Resonance", when the song explodes and erupts into such a magnificent storm of blast beasts, riffs and pure raw emotion, you are once again rewarded with one of these moments.
_Malevolent Grain_ is a stop gap EP between second and third album releases for Wolves in the Throne Room and contains two ten minute songs. The first, described above, is a medium to fast paced black metal song with only female vocals from Jamie Myers (ex-Hammers of Misfortune). The contrast between the music and the vocals is astonishingly successful. Perhaps it is the unusual delivery or the contradictions in tone, but it makes for one of the best songs this collective has ever penned. "Hate Crystal" is a more typical song for the band. Noticeable are the changes in the guitars with the addition of Will Lindsay, of the now defunct Middian, as there is now a hint of doom running through the music.
After releasing it as a 12" vinyl EP through Southern Lord Records, a CD version was released straight from the band and can only be purchased by them through their website. And it is well worth getting it before it goes out of print and you miss this gem forever.
Black Cascade
http://www.heathenharvest.com
Black metal from the United States is a precious thing indeed. From beyond the waves hails many a great band such as Ceremonial Castings, Xasthur and Absu. One of the most profiled bands of them all however must be Wolves in the Throne Room(from now on called WITTR). The band is quite young with only five years in the back and two full length albums but has been ploughing up a lot of following around the globe, not least here in Sweden where this beast is located. So has this band from Lost Cascadia once again manage to conjure an album so great and unique that its nailed right into the heart of the black metal community? I would say yes, defiantly. The album starts of with the silent pouring of rain and it utterly enhances the albums brooding analogue sound perfectly mixed by Randall Dunn of Sunn O))).
The production is clean yet not overly done, a balance so slim that its almost nigh existing have been reach and is a very define moment of the album. The music is great with solid riffs, thundering drums and great melodies. Each song is a masterpiece in its own way and although four tracks might look a little thin for a full length album the whole album clocks at almost 50 minutes of pure quality black metal.
WITTR are a band deeply connected with mysticism and natural philosophies, an aspect that dragged me to the band like a fat maggot to a carcass. The mystical aspect of the band really shines through in the lyrical aspects and enhances the experience. The soundscapes are almost ritual in composition and summons a feeling inside that your part of something alive and brooding. The song Ahrimanic Trance is a bloody monster with its cold growing riff that really gives away a feeling of transcending boundaries.
The lyrics are solid and well written and the instrument handled masterfully. Its really hard for me to find anything in the album that haven’t been given the care it deserves, it is all in all a masterly experience breeding in the sensation of wandering the woodlands in the company of wolves. WITTR is featured in an article here at heathen harvest and I recommend you to go read it, and then go get your hands on this album. If you like black metal with a ritual approach laden with natural themes then you have no excuse, and should you not like it, then you have not yet opened your eyes. WITTR delivers, and that with a quantity unheard of in many circles of black metal.
Wolves in the Throne Room perform live at Cafe Coda, Saturday January 28th. Doors at 7:30. Show at 8:00. All ages admitted. Tickets are . Advance tickets will be on sale soon. Opening acts TBA.
at Cafe Coda
265 Humbolt Avenue
Chico, United States
Tweet this!
Recent Comments