Wolves In The Throne Room

Celestial Lineage

Southern Lord Records 2011

Cascadian black metal legends Wolves In The Throne Room return after the amazing success of their Black Cascade album.  Celestial Lineage delves into the depths of organic, yet lush black metal landscapes.  The album opens with Thuja Magus Imperium which is seductive and elegant with its angelic female vocals and mesmerizing, repetitive riffs.  The song is imbued with a mystical quality, like solemn wisdom being imparted by ancient masters.  Subterranean Initiations breaks the stillness of the previous track with blasting black metal that recalls their Northern European brethren.  Arcane melodic movements sweep through the song before it drifts into ominous creeping patterns, like the chiming of funeral bells.  Another transcendental instrumentals on this album is Rainbow Illness with its pulsing bass, croaking animals, and muted ritualistic synth.  Fuzzed synth and tinkling chimes are the harbinger to a ceremonial atmosphere on Woodland Cathedral.  The female vocals on the track are phrased like a chant, adding to the ceremonial aspect of the track.  Then Astral Blood hits with its midtempo black metal magic.  The pacing and the atmospheric synth and melodies bring to mind a thinner version of Gehenna's First Spell.  The clean, delicate guitar and astral synth at the track's heart lend the song a spiritual angle and the riff that starts at the 8:14 mark is simple yet emotionally deep.  Prayer of Transformation closes the album as a plodding but stellar mix between majestic black metal and forlorn doom.  Wolves In The Throne Room once again have astounded me with an album that is regal in its natural splendor!  Celestial Lineage is an album that is at once grand and elegant while remaining stripped down and bare.  It further cements WITTR's place at the forefront of the American black metal movement.