Wolves in the Throne Room

Black Cascade

Southern Lord 2009

After being disappointed with their last album, Two Hunters, WITTR return to form with a powerful, majestic and moving album of intense and organic black metal.  Black Cascades consists of four tracks of their characteristic orchestral and atmospheric black metal.  The first track is Wanderer Above the Sea of Fog.  Intense and icy riffs rise to meet soaring atmospheric guitar passages and blasting drums.  Simplistic yet evocative keyboards add layers of depth and mood to this already forcefully triumphant black metal ode.  The middle of this 10 minute track is slower and more introspective, adding a thoughtful yet brooding angle to their lethal arsenal.  Ahrimanic Trance spins and whirls in hypnotic and monotonous riffs conjuring the roar of epic winds through the lush green leaves of vast forests.  A layer of synths and hissing cymbals enhance this feeling with a similar style as early Emperor and Enslaved.  On Ex Cathedra hollow riffs and echoing vocals combine to conjure parallels of waves violently crashing on rocky northern shores.  Later an acoustic guitar strums through our consciousness like the slow flowing of water within a fog enshrouded cove, calm and still.  With the album finale, Crystal Ammunition, strong bursts of stone-hard guitars methodically mete out doom to all listeners but soon these riffs fade into epic passages not unlike a lumbering troll stalking through damp and mossy undergrowth full of triumphant melancholy.  Wolves in the Throne Room succeed in creating a natural aura where intellectual exploration meets the splendor of an unspoiled wilderness.  Black Cascades is both beautiful and darkly malevolent, yet ultimately summons images that unite the listener with a nostalgia for forested landscapes devoid of corrupting human influence.