sleepy jack

Wolves in the Throne Room "Two Hunters"



"If you listen to Black Metal, but you don't know what phase the moon is in, or what wild flowers are blooming then you have failed. It is shocking to me that one could be seriously interested in Black Metal and not be deeply committed to radical ecology. Is Black Metal supposed to be about concrete high rises, suburbs, television, an easy modern existence with access to 4-tracks and corpse paint from the local hot topic? No! The music is about wild forests, unfettered rivers, nature: furious and vengeful. Frankly, I think a good portion of Black Metallers haven't thought too hard about why they are into the music. I remember reading an interview with Garm of Ulver, I think in Michael Moynihan's "Lords of Chaos". Garm just couldn't say enough horrible things about the youthful malcontents who buy the majority of Black Metal records; I tend to agree with him. Black Metal is a fairly easy thing to get into. There is a style, a sound, a set of beliefs - it's all there to be purchased or downloaded with nary a thought of one's own needed to get the whole package. There is deep truth underneath the facade of grim posturing, but one needs to search for it."
- Wolves in the Throne Room

I heard this album driving back from a hiking trip in the Cascade mountains. Which sounds really cheesy and cliche, and the friend who played it for me, meant it to be that way. The album hit me though, it juxtaposed this very ethereal and looming atmosphere, that could sometimes be beautiful, and other times be so ugly, with this dissonant black metal. The result is beautiful and it's one of those albums that transcends genres in the sense even if you're not into this style of music, you can still be into this album.

They prove themselves completely capable of crafting a soundscape that is never tedious, and can be just as intense as Godspeed You! Black Emperor, while still being as raw as any of their metal contemporaries. The songs shift in this way that always captivates, take the track The Cleansing below, which starts off with this female vocal and then moves seamlessly to throaty stuff. The album with songs a little under twenty minutes manages to stay interesting throughout the whole thing.

I want to keep this short since I posted a lengthy quote in addition to this mini-orgasm, so in closing I'll simply say if you love nature and epicness and metal, or are just curious this is an album you should listen to because I have many <3s for it.

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