Formed in 2002 from my hometown in Washington State, Wolves In The Throne Room are a Cascadian black metal band who was founded originally by both Aaron and Nathan Weaver, the brothers of this fine establishment. From their stylistic style of nature, environmentalist, destructive, mythological, ritualistic and astral lyricism themed for black metal, they’ve returned to make a comeback. Now under a new label through Century Media Records, Primordial Arcana is the seventh full-length offering and is the follow-up to 2017’s Thrice Woven.
Musically, this is a very well determined and fixating album showcases the band’s traditional and established landscapes of American Black Metal signatures while also incorporating atmospherics and progression into a universe so paralleled you’ll have to listen to the deep narration the album portrays.
From its over blowing instrumentation, melodic synthesizers, technical and appreciative combinations of ritualistic drumming, the members from Wolves In The Throne Room also contributed magnificent sonic illusions that are soothing, aggressive and left rejuvenated passages to be explored. Primordial Arcana is taking elements from Two Hunters and Black Cascade with a very distinctive, authentic, descriptive and raw atmospherics of black metal provided a disruptive taste to embrace the evolution the band is making. It really showcases the distinctiveness of pure onslaught and bombardment screeches utilizing crescendos are definitely centralized around different substances and quick paced structures. Tracks such as Primal Chasm (Gift of Fire), Masters of Rain and Storm and Through Eternal Fields for a fine example of why Wolves In The Throne Room are such a huge household name in the black metal scene and Primordial Arcana might perhaps be the band’s most essential release since Black Cascade and any fans of past material will surely get a kick out of this album.
Overall Score: 9.5/10
Review by Jake Butler
