Wolves In The Throne Room

Bummed that I missed them on the UK tour at the start of the year. They were due to play down here the day all the snow hit the country. Don't know if the gig went ahead or not, but I'd like to think that they ended up stranded out on the moors somewhere, playing a gig in a snow cave to an audience of black metal badgers.

Didn't even know they were coming - I hope I'm not about to find out about Darkspace touching down in the UK after the event!

the contrast between wolves and krallice was interesting, because it's not like krallice was quiet or anything, and they worked up some good hammering grooves, but wolves' sound was just so much vaster.

(and i know the headliner always gets to play louder. but it wasn't just a matter of volume in the decibel sense, it was volume in the dimensional filling-the-room sense.)

i loved both of them - Krallice was def noodlier tho?

maybe i am just experiencing anti 6 string bass player bias

krallice def noodlier, yeah. although somewhat less than on the album (partly because a lot of the noodling got buried in fuzz). the noodliness gets a bit much for me on record, even though dude is no doubt a guitar hero.

krallice when i saw them played three songs, one of which was probably about 20 minutes long. so yeah, there was noodling.

they're playing austin in a couple weeks maybe i'll give them another try

BIG HOOS I will go to this with you.

(and i know the headliner always gets to play louder. but it wasn't just a matter of volume in the decibel sense, it was volume in the dimensional filling-the-room sense.)

― would you ask tom petty that? (tipsy mothra), Wednesday, May 27, 2009 5:23 PM (3 hours ago)

definitely true that they were the loudest thing i saw all night

and yeah dude lemme check the finances but i'm pretty sure i'm down for that

xp

I mean I guess my issue was that I kept waiting on the blast beats or howls or something resembling a guitar riff but instead it was just this wash of earcrushing sad static. Not that I have a problem with that as a matter of course, but it just wasn't really what I expected or wanted. As it stood I kept going "is that the drums? are there beats somewhere behind the squall?"

maybe the mix wasnt great? the seperation was great when i saw them (admittedly, the club they were at is by far the best venue in town as far as sound goes)

Hmm I bet every one of these shows sounded better than the time I saw them in a bowling alley in 2004.

Wow that sounded pompous and wasn't meant to.

hahahahahaha

ok its official i'm goin next sunday

u down ilxor moniker man or

I always hear this band name to the tune of Adolescents' "Kids of the Black Hole"
Also, I love these guys

hoos i feel strong positive about your next exposure to these guys

seeing them saturday night. two-hour drive to the middle of nowhere, which seems appropriate.

Every time I see this thread title, I sing it (in my head) to the tune of "Thieves in the Temple."

xpost: "just this wash of earcrushing sad static."

My kind of BM action - I definitely have to seem them live.

Just picked up Black Cascade on vinyl (Southern Lord do a great package!). Seems a lot straighter than Diadem of Twelve Stars (the only other WITTR album I have), if that's the right word. I'm not sure yet whether that's a good thing.

it is, the ep before it had stuff more like the last album.
It is great though!

Initial reaction is good -- the problem to my ears is that, if it's too straight it can quickly descend into goth-ness à la Nephilim (if you know what I mean), which is a bad thing. The first track especially had some slower guitar riffs that got me worried.

I'm with Herman on this. The preceding e.p. is the best thing they've ever done.

I was actually meaning the album is great, but yes, the ep is great too and I prob do prefer it!

duke you need to listen to two hunters

had never heard of these guys, and accidentally went to a show at the empty bottle (free mondays, yay!) and they R00L3D, and then I promptly forgot they existed.

will def see them if/when they come back

I probably booked them on that. Love the Bottle.

They opened for Sunn0))) at a place 2 blocks from my house. This was before Two Hunters came out and I skipped them entirely, because I didn't like Diadem (and still don't). Heard Two Hunters a week later and kicked myself.

I'm liking Black Cascade just fine. Two Hunters definitely on my vinyl buy-list.

Two Hunters is excellent. And it has much much better cover art than Black Cascade.

funny, I just listened to black cascade over the weekend. since it came out, I've listened a few times now. always a pleasant enough listen, but doesn't make much of a lasting impression.

so, should I keep at it or call it a day? if so, what do you like about it? (just curious.)

and I really like two hunters and the EP a bunch. never liked diadem much at all.

btw, my favorite thing about this band is drumming. very much the foundation of their sound. tranced-out, heavy, driving. (much like filosofem.)

Will Lindsay (current 2nd guitarist in WITTR) is also playing with Indian, Storm of Light, and Nachtmystium now. Saw Indian in Chicago recently and it was pretty devastating.

Persevere with it

but why?

cuz I say so.

well, ok dude. was just hoping to get an actual discussion of the album going...

heh, actually that was more passive/aggressive than I meant for it to sound.

I'm just curious about what people see in this album that I have no recollection of the second it goes off!

Not all black metal has hooks, Alan. But I feel you on this. Their first two albums did...

yeah, this is obviously a matter of personal preference, but I certainly don't think I NEED hooks in black metal. but after a few listens, black cascade doesn't seem to have the variety of their last album, the trance-inducing quality of something like filosofem, the catchiness of late immortal, the gut punch of transilvanian hunger, the epic feel of early emperor, etc.

but there is SOMETHING there and I don't dislike it. I just wonder if it will ever click and I'm genuinely curious about how to approach this record.

The only song I really like a lot on Black Cascade is the last track. I doubt I'll be putting it on any best-of lists this year... definitely kind of a yawn compared to Two Hunters.

Pitchfork really slammed it. I was shocked.

pitchfork dont have a clue

they should just have Brandon Stosuy write all of their metal reviews imo.

btw, my favorite thing about this band is drumming. very much the foundation of their sound. tranced-out, heavy, driving. (much like filosofem.)
― picture me lolin' (Alan N), Monday, 21 September 2009 22:57 (Yesterday)

I must say the intensity of the drumming is one of the things I noticed on Black Cascade (in comparison with Diadem). Seems higher in the mix, much more of a driving force.

Could you say why you didn't care for Diadem, Alan?

they should just have Brandon StosuyDrew Daniel write all of their metal reviews imo.

― A polar bear you can see in a snowstorm (rockapads), Tuesday, September 22, 2009 4:05 PM (2 hours ago) Bookmark

^^ fixed

(I guess "Sleeping Golden Storm" is a Leonard Cohen nod? Not musically that I can tell, but he'd probably sound good croaking over it.)

Really like the new one, but it's my first exposure to them, so i'm not very representative. great band name, though

Listening to it for the first time now. I'm curious how it sounds to someone who's never listened to Tangerine Dream's Zeit, or any of a bunch of other early 70s synth-prog albums that are the root of this sound. I feel like having steeped myself in that stuff for so many years now, I'm kind of incapable of judging this record on its own merits.

I've heard Tangerine Dream and I know that stuff is the explicit reference point for this album, but I am certainly not steeped in it. So I hear this album more in the context of WITTR, and it makes sense in that context too. Compositionally, it's not that much of a departure -- you could arrange the songs with walls of guitar and blast-beats, and it would sound a lot like other Wolves albums.

Anyway, I like it. I'd be interested to see how they incorporate it into live sets.

Celestite has taken me by surprise, there's some really magical parts in there.

I'm feeling emo tonight and "Cleansing" from Two Hunters is really soothing.......

I still feel like the most recent two are my favs tho. was a bit surprised at some of the lukewarm reaction to Thrice Woven as I feel like melodically speaking they really expanded their sound (at least on the opening track).

"Dia Artio" is such a great ambient track too.

I guess I really enjoy black metal centered around the Pacific Northwest wilderness as an omnipresent spirit. Like I think when American black metal sucked is when it tried too much to be Norwegian black metal instead of drawing on what made that work (the regional cultural infusion into the music).

feel like this shoulda been the soundtrack to The Revenant

no doubt, i've felt like I had ropes around my chest due to stress all day, and Celestial Lineage completely sucked it out.

I forgot how dense this album is.

Ah, now Wolverhampton Wanderers makes sense.

Lol

every time this thread hits SNA it takes me a moment