Wolves in the Throne Room Thrice Woven Review

Whenever I hear a one-half-decent band describe their upcoming record as "experimental," I find myself afflicted with a sort of depression-level separate-personality disorder. Half of me wants to clap them on the back and praise their boldness, while the other fifty% wants to give them all a good slap for risking disaster and so needlessly. Wolves in the Throne Room did just this to me with their 2014 outing Celestite, which emerged from the womb sounding more than like Kraftwerk's morbidly obese stepsister than the fare of an accomplished black metal act. Some loved it; I, alas, did non. When I looked up their latest offering, Thrice Woven, therefore, it was a palpable relief to learn that the band intended to return to their roots, dropping the wiggly synths in favor of some other dollop of tried-and-tested atmospheric black metal. Experimental Lucan shut upwardly and got dorsum in line.

Wolves in the Throne Room have traditionally gone in for a heavily-layered approach, drawing inspiration from the landscape of their native Pacific Northwest region, and with Thrice Woven the band has reaffirmed their commitment to this formula. Through meandering vocal structures and poignant melodies, they seek to provide the listener with a window into the natural surroundings of their homeland, recreating the sense of awe and area one experiences when surrounded by nature on a grand calibration. More often than not speaking, they brand a reasonable fist of this as well. Although information technology is undoubtedly a black metal tape, Thrice Woven'southward personality is derived from its folky undertones, which is understated, but all the more effective for it.

Opener "Born from the Serpent's Eye" is quintessential WitTR. Wistful guitar refrains are accentuated by elegant keys—simply prominent enough to add depth—and the drum work is unflashy, serving to punctuate rather than distract. About a tertiary of the way in, notwithstanding, the mood suddenly shifts, heralding a barrage of blast beats and crunchy, downcast black metal riffing, à la Marduk or Gorgoroth. This cursory burst of aggression evaporates almost equally chop-chop equally information technology arrives, however, making way for an achingly beautiful choral interlude by guest vocalizer Anna von Hausswolff—sure to tug at the heartstrings of whatsoever Myrkur or Darkher aficionados in the audience—later on which the music eases back into a concluding melodious amble to encounter the song out.

Now, while "Born from the Serpent's Centre" is easily the album's strongest track, this is non the primary reason I have taken the time to suspension information technology down. Rather, I have done and then because it's substantially the unabridged record condensed into ix-and-a-one-half minutes. Encounter, Celestite aside, I've ever enjoyed Wolves in the Throne Room's music, but a criticism I've found myself leveling at them on more than ane occasion is that it tin can get a footling samey subsequently a while¹. This is something that, for me at least, has always prevented them from really breaking into the top tier of the genre's food chain, and it'south also, regrettably, a flaw with which Thrice Woven is afflicted as well. Don't get me wrong, the rest of the record is non entirely without merit; a couple of dramatic, albeit slightly cheesy, spoken word segments past Neurosis' Steve Von Till assistance to generate a prissy atmosphere, and von Hausswolff's pièce de résistance "Mother Owl, Father Body of water" is genuinely captivating. Furthermore, despite initial reservations, I've found myself gradually warming to the production with each listen. Drum tone notwithstanding—the snare has near as much clout as an egg carton being tapped with a biro—the sound is crude plenty to carry off the black metal vibe assuredly while retaining enough clarity to avert congealing when the instruments begin to layer upwards. Unfortunately, withal, this is non in itself enough to distract from the manner in which large portions of the record merely audio like the aforementioned ideas recycled in a series of different orders, and this is a pity given what a formidable start it gets off to.

I'm genuinely glad that Wolves in the Throne Room have elected to re-cover their black metal nature, but while I certainly don't hate this anthology, I exercise find it underwhelming even so. Atmospheric music should be an immersive experience, and in its infancy,Thrice Woven is a success in this respect, but the total impact of the record is somewhat stunted past the repetitiveness of its heavier segments, and this saps a lot of the impact out of what could have been a triumphant return to class.

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Rating: 2.v/5.0
DR: 7 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Characterization: Artemisia Records
Website: wittir.com | wolvesinthethroneroom.bandcamp.com | facebook.com/wolvesinthethroneroom
Releases Worldwide: September 22nd, 2017

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Source: https://www.angrymetalguy.com/wolves-in-the-throne-room-thrice-woven-review/