Monday, February 9, 2009
Music news Review: Wolves in the Throne Room
Posted by Chad Radford @ChadRad on Mon, Feb 9, 2009 at 2:05 PM
Wolves in the Throne Room
Malevolent Grain EP
Olympia, Wash.'s black metal drone riders Wolves in the Throne Room's pro-ecological rage in the battle of man against nature might better be labeled green metal.
From the dizzying cover art all the way down to the forest green wax on which this vinyl-only 12-inch is pressed, WITTR skews the genre's typical scorched earth imagery in favor of a sound and vision that communes with the pure and majestic beauty of nature's malevolence. The group pulls it off by blurring the edges and disguising any semblance of a clear-cut manifesto with a slow and angelic aural grind.
On the A-side, "A Looming Resonance" unfolds with elegant force and sadness as vocalist Jamie Myers (Hammers of Misfortune) chants a spectral accompaniment to the guitars. The song is tailored to her alluring voice, which stands as a strong contrast to the scraping and demonic yowl of "Hate Crystal" on the flipside.
The latter side is far more compelling as every level of this heavily textured dirge of minimalism is pushed into maximum overdrive that ebbs and ebbs and ebbs. To a passive pair of ears the hidden layers of noise, rumble and chattering percussion could easily go unnoticed under the roar of so much tumult. Listen to this record through headphones and gain a whole new sense of fear, respect and reverence for mother nature and all of the pain she could can and will inflict upon mankind when she decides to bite back.
5 stars
Wolves in the Throne Room play the SCION Rock Fest at the Masquerade on Sat., Feb. 28th.
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