Wolves In The Throne Room - Diadem of 12 Stars

[GreenPea]

I just got this record on the mail today and it is quickly becoming my favorite album of the year (not that I have bought that much music that was actually released this year, mind you) The remind me a lot of the band Weakling if you have ever heard of them.

Review from http://www.holyterror.com/blod/

"Diadem of 12 Stars", the debut album from Olympia, WA's Wolves in the Throne Room, is not only my favorite Vendlus release to date, but in my opinion easily solidifies this group as one of the absolute finest American black metal acts to have existed up to this point. This material simply eclipses a great deal of what's inexplicably deemed the "best" in "USBM", there's simply no argument, and I'm fairly certain this tremendous outing will end up on my "Best of 2006" list in a few months' time. The core membership of Wolves in the Throne Room is a trio using only guitars, drums, and vocals, but they really layer their instruments together well so that the material comes across as spacious while still feeling a bit "larger" than it is. The absence of bass really doesn't present a problem at all. Included are but three long compositions (one of which is a two-parter) running from 13 - 20+ minutes within the total of an hour and traveling well beyond the genre's typical boundaries. They do build upon a foundation of the raw attack and speed expected of the traditional black metal aesthetic, but they also blend in powerful melodies akin to Ulver circa "Bergtatt", or, subsequently, Agalloch's channeling of said Ulver era during the "Pale Folklore" days. And in addition to the sneering screams and snarls, there are also occasional appearances of excellent female singing; not to mention numerous tempo changes that delve into doomier slow to midpaced riffing, expanding an already wide dynamic range that includes some nice acoustic breathers and whatnot as well. Furthermore, it would be remiss not to point out another extremely respectable facet of Wolves in the Throne Room's being: No corpsepaint, no unnecessary pseudonyms, and themes that avoid the typical satanic fallbacks of the genre. Finally! Unfortunately, no lyrics are included within the attractively designed CD booklet (just some peculiar photographs), but the band does have a lot of truly interesting things to say. In fact, I would highly suggest reading some interviews with Wolves in the Throne Room, as an intriguing interview and such curious remarks as this excerpt from their "artist statement" are what initially drew me to their music:

Our music is perhaps what happens after the initial, necessary, hateful burst; after the psychic explosion that is black metal wipes away that which came before: the sick and twisted truths of our modern condition. For in black metal, we see great truth, transcendence and power. Black metal is the cleansing fire that frees us from the bondage of rationality, science, morality, religion, leaving us free to choose our own path.

Excellent, excellent work. Absolutely recommended, and I can't wait to hear more from this outstanding outfit.

This shit is fucking beautiful, I kid you not.

The album can be ordered at www.vendlus.com/

[Aaron Contreras]

Our music is perhaps what happens after the initial, necessary, hateful burst; after the psychic explosion that is black metal wipes away that which came before: the sick and twisted truths of our modern condition. For in black metal, we see great truth, transcendence and power. Black metal is the cleansing fire that frees us from the bondage of rationality, science, morality, religion, leaving us free to choose our own path.

You can't be serious.

They sound a lot like angry Seattle bands from the early 90's who never really blipped on the national level...although they are obviously lacking the anti-rock star vibe and cynical approach to media.

*edit* They sound like they're trying to be the 'Metal' My Bloody Valentine. Need chunkier, mightier guitar sounds and maybe some bass, eh? They just don't sound like black metal to me outside of the male vocals (and I really think BM screech/growl vocals detract from the music even in bands I dig).

[GreenPea]

Actually they are 100% Black Metal without the satanic vibe (but still have the whole pagan/nature worship vibe). Black Metal a lot of times has this My Bloody Valentine wall of distortion sound and inaudible bass (in this case no base at all as they dont have a bass player even), which is the reason that I love black metal to begin with. Black Metal in general is never "chunky", it is melodic rather than groovy.
I dunno what you mean by lacking the anti-rock star vibe, especially compared to 90s seattle bands . In any case I am not sure what early 90s seattle bands you are refering to but most likely I loved them because I can't think of a single band that came from Seattle on the early 90s that I didn't like. Actually what I hate the most about this record is the female vocals except when they are used as background melody as in the first track (which is my favorite btw). Also not too keen on the death metal growls used from time to time, which I normally love in death metal or even in some black metal bands like Aeternus, but here the music is too beautiful and too hypnotic/thin for that stuff. The main vocals are perfect though, very similar to Weakling, more like someone screaming at the top of their lungs than a screech really.