Wolves In The Throne Room - Thrice Woven
Black metal: a genre worshipped by some, reviled or ignored by most. These gloriously named Wolves take all of the genres tropes and take them to a level that is almost - note that almost - parody.
On this, the Olympia, Washington piece's fifth album, there is the expected billion-BPM double bass drumming, subsonic vocal growl, operatic guitars, baroque keys, massed choirs and preposterous lyrics of the old ones coming. For all that, though, there is an inventiveness and intellect at work here missing from most of black metal.
In my youth - back when dinosaurs roamed the earth - I was a HUGE fan of metal in all its forms, from Sunset Strip poseurs to German thrash. My tastes have broadened considerably and I am no expert on metal these days but the multi-part complexity of Angrboda is the most fearsomely perfect metal - irrespective of genre - song I have heard for a long, long time.
The rest of the tracks here don't come close to that but are still worth a listen. The production is a little clean and the instrumentation a touch too operatic for my tastes. I'd like a bit of Melvins sludge but I can't fault WITTR's bloody minded commitment and musical ability.
6/10
