Yesterday evening, I stumbled across a collection of old movie and music reviews that I wrote a good year or two ago, and I found this, a review I wrote after my first listen to Wolves In The Throne Room’s incredible release “Malevolent Grain”. I think it was published somewhere, but I can’t remember. Anyway, I didn’t hate it, so I thought I’d repost it here:

If I am ever driven to suicide it will be due to this record. This record will be playing around me before I die, while I die and after I die, and you are all witnesses here when I say that I want my family and friends to listen to all 23 glorious minutes of this masterpiece at my funeral. It is stunning. Wolves In The Throne Room’s latest vinyl release “Malevolent Grain” brings their idea of “atmospheric eco-spiritual black drone metal” to life in such a grand and exquisite way. The two-song vinyl only release (and digital… God bless you piracy!) really does expand on the atmosphere of their previous material and that that is inherent in the black metal genre. This is particularly obvious on the opening track, “A Looming Resonance”, a simply superb way to start a breathtaking release.

The song opens with the simple but beautiful strum of a guitar and the crackling, droney grain of the vinyl. That is all. It is a single moment of peace. The “calm before the storm”, so to speak. But this slowly but surely builds up into the percussion; slow and effortless, giving a dark and macabre atmosphere to the piece. As the calm strumming of the guitar continues and the droney grain of the vinyl crackles in the background, the drums slowly gain in volume, joined now by the haunting guest-vocals of Jamie Myers (from Hammers of Misfortune), until they stop and fade away… the single strumming has returned. The slow build-up of the piece and then the continual and abrupt fading away and peaceful strumming is what makes this piece so chilling. You really do feel as if you are “staring onward, as time stands still.” Listening to the piece, you feel a sense of distance and effortlessness, as if you are trapped, forced to watch the cycle of life tediously repeat itself, growing and forming and then dying right before your eyes. “A Looming Resonance” makes you imagine what it is truly like to be a tree; to be part of a forest, living this cycle which it is forced to live and watching your surroundings grow strong and then die weak before your eyes. The song speeds onward until it fades away into a mass haze of life and death, slowly getting quieter and quieter until it disappears into the vinyl crackle and leaves, just as we all do when our cycle has ended…

The second track on the EP, “Hate Crystal”, is closer to what you expect of a typical black metal song, yet it is also very untypical in it’s delivery and appearance. You can hear the traditional influences within it’s dark and destructive chord sequences. Elements of early Emperor and even the suicidal black metal pieces of Make A Change… Kill Yourself creep in from time to time, weaving in and out of the mayhem that is this almighty onslaught of eco-spirituality. But despite it’s very typical, traditional influences, the song is set apart by it’s unusually repetitive droning and screeching guitar riffs that pierce deep into you, blackening your heart and soul. Comparisons can be made to Nathan Weaver - the band’s vocalist - as a majestic wolf, howling in pain and sorrow in the dark after the life cycle of his surroundings has finally ended. Through Weaver’s vocals and lyrical content you feel a sense of loneliness and desperation, each word cutting through the air like the chop of an axe. In my opinion, this piece is the perfect way to end a perfect EP; a final desperate cry for hope and change.

The first time I listened to WITTR I got chills. It was one of the most incredible experiences of my life, and I remember the exact feelings I encountered when I was hit with the first notes of “Queen of the Borrowed Night”. “Malevolent Grain” is still stuck on repeat and is still giving me chills that equal those first chills I received all those many moons ago, an extremely rare feat in the modern metal scene. I recommend this album to anyone and everyone out there who knows anything about music, because you will become hypnotised by the sheer power and beauty that this EP holds. Heck, I’m even tempted to crack open my savings and buy you all a copy!

4.4/5