WOLVES IN THE THROME ROOM - Primordial Arcana LP (Black Vinyl)

WITTR’s status as the frontrunners of Cascadian black metal has been unwavering. Multi-instrumentalist brothers Aaron and Nathan have been refining and expanding their craft over the years. Their now signature somber and lush style of black metal is wherein the band incorporated folk instrumentation which further enhanced the band’s mystical and mythological atmosphere. That’s still very much the case with this new record which also includes the continued contributions of guitarist Kody Keyworth, however, while the previous record was a very rich, ambitious and sometimes symphonic offering, this new record is the band’s most straightforward and concise record to date, while also being their most musically intense and ferocious record and all of that without discarding the folk driven melodicism and atmosphere of previous record. As a whole the album feels simultaneously ancient and modern, the production and sound continues to be another triumph of the band, who once again produced this album themselves. The same can be said of the music; if there’s a band that can make their music sound like the forests of Cascadia, that band is indeed Wolves In The Throne Room, as this album captures not just the majestic beauty and mystery of the woods and mountains, and the folklore behind them, but also the cruelty of nature, the anguish, the darkness and the melancholy of ancient times.