ALBUM REVIEW: Wolves in the Throne Room- ‘Thrice Woven’

By: Daniel Jackson

Album Type:Full Length

Date Released:22/09/2017

Label:Artemisia Records

There’s a kind of theatrical gravitas throughout ‘Thrice Woven’. It’s supremely confident, gravely serious, and stunning in its ability to pair serenity and sorrow with pain and anger.

‘Thrice Woven’ CD//LP//CS//DD track listing:

1. Born From The Serpent’s Eye

2. The Old Ones Are With Us

3. Angrboda

4. Mother Owl. Father Ocean

5. Fires Roar in the Palace of the Moon

The Review:

It’s human nature to want to have new experiences. We’re always looking for something different. Whatever aspect of life we’re talking about, things are always moving. Sometimes the perception is that we’re moving forward, but there’s almost always movement of some kind. The same is obviously true of musicians and artists.

Wolves in the Throne Roomtook their music in an entirely different direction with 2014’s ‘Celestite’. The album was all over the place, ranging from light synthy ambient music to caustic drone and plenty more between the two. The reaction to the album, from fans and press alike, covered a broad spectrum too. Some hailed the band for their artistic freedom, some spurned the album for its failure to fall in line with the band’s previous work, and everyone else fell between those two points.

With ‘Thrice Woven’, Wolves in the Throne Room have essentially retreated to familiar ground, while bringing back some of what they found in the great beyond. Were it not for some of the synth work and dramatic atmospheric elements at work throughout, this album might be Wolves in the Throne Room’s most traditionally black metal album since ‘Diadem of 12 Stars’. A lot of the riffs and tremolo leads would feel right at home in a 90s scandinavian black metal context. “Born From The Serpent” features a section in the first half of the song that could have been on any early Marduk or Enthroned album.

The production too feels like something older. The drums in particular have a very dry sound, which is out of character for Wolves in the Throne Room. The snare has a crisp, thin feel to it, like on Sacramentum’s ‘Far Away From The Sun’. The guitars have a hazy texture to them, though you could call them muted or dull. It would feel constricted and spaceless if these compositions were any different, but here it fits surprisingly well. The guitar leads aren’t in a constant battle with everything else, struggling to shine through in the mix. They’re right up front and clear as day, pulling everything else along with it. What the production sacrifices in sounding massive, it makes up for in clarity.

 There’s a kind of theatrical gravitas throughout ‘Thrice Woven’. It’s supremely confident, gravely serious, and stunning in its ability to pair serenity and sorrow with pain and anger. It harnesses all the bleak melodrama that made ‘Two Hunters’ such a compelling album, and puts it into a universe that’s rooted in a style of black metal they’ve avoided until now. And yet, it never crosses that boundary into second wave worship. This album is a testament to just how deep and rich black metal can be as a genre. I hope they stick around in this space a little while longer.

‘Thrice Woven’ is available digitally here and a CD/LP/CS copy here.

Band info: Official Site || Facebook