Wolves in the Throne Room

Diadem of 12 Stars

Vendlus Records 2006

Wow!  I already had the demo CD of Wolves in the Throne room and it only hinted at what was to come with the staggering musical emotion and mood on display here despite two of the four songs being the same.  I am absolutely blown away by Diadem of 12 Stars.  The closest musical reference I can use is a black metal version of the old death doom band Disembowelment for any of you who can still remember them.  They have tempered blasting black metal nihilism with stark and bleak doom riffing somewhat similar to Thergothon or maybe even Dance of December Souls era Katatonia.  Also I detect hints of early Anathema here too.  One of my favorite aspects of their artistic expression is the manner in which they take a riff that appears to start off as a slow dirge and then add hammering drumming beneath and turn it into warp-speed black metal without actually altering the riff.  A lot of times this creates a trance effect where the listener can get lost in aural landscapes within their own mind.  For some of you this might be a scary proposition.  In Face in a Night Time Mirror Part 1, WITTR use a haunting female vocalist for a short period which is cool but at the same time I am not sure if this enhances the actual listening experience.  I am torn on how I feel about it right now but to be sure it doesn't detract from the material either.  I love the production here too because it manages to give the guitars a tone of sadness when required and also a feeling of distance and depth that make those slow heavy riffs all the more crushing upon my ears.  Also everything seems to be wrapped in a light blanket of fog that adds just the right amount of fuzz to the mix.  With the style and sonic textures that WITTR employ Diadem conjures images of deep and gloomy forests which based on the cover art I am sure they were aiming for.  Wolves in the Throne Room have managed to create an album that actually captures the emotion of sorrow within metal.  This is something that I find to be hard to achieve and almost no one has managed to accomplish this feat in quite the same manner that WITTR do.  This is quite possibly my second favorite album of 2006 and I am certain it will remain in my top 5 which is astounding since the year has barely begun.