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As a death metal fan I’m often prone to moments of knuckle-dragging intolerance when it comes to music.  When I received a promo copy of Wolves In The Throne Room’s 2006 full length debut Diadem Of 12 Stars, I took one look at the band name, one look at the shitty album cover and decided “This looks fucking stupid.  I’m sending this to Necro-tron so he can tear it apart.”  A month or so later he posted a surprisingly favorable review of the album I’d so quickly discarded without a second thought.  When I was sent a copy of the band’s most recent effort, Black Cascade, I made sure not to make the same mistake again and promptly sat down and gave it a listen.  Then I listened to it again.  And again.  And again.  And again.

Consisting of Aaron and Nathan Weaver of hardcore acts The Hoodwinks & Lords Of Light Speed, Will Lindsay of doom/sludge act Midian and none other than Ross Sewage from death/gore metallers Impaled & Ghoul, Wolves In The Throne Room is one of the oddest assortment of musicians you could possibly group together.  Hardcore, doom and gore metal.  While you may expect them to create some gory doomcore, this quartet actually plays some of the most compelling Norwegian-flavored ambient black metal I’ve ever heard!

Black Cascade is 4 tracks spread out over 49 minutes of hypnotic ambient atmospheric black metal, filled with the venomous hatred of raw Norwegian black metal and the beauty of ambient atmospheric metal.  While the combination of the two may seem horrible on paper, on compact disc it’s one of the most captivating albums I’ve heard in a decade.  The last time I heard a black metal album that had so many layers and so much depth and was so enthralling was Aeternus‘ …And So The Night Became!

The material is both melodic and soothing and chaotic and hateful at the same time, it’s a truly remarkable combination of styles that you wouldn’t think would work but actually sounds incredible.  There’s nothing remarkable about the musicianship of the members involved, each one is competent, but they don’t blow me away with technical prowess, however what they do have is an amazing song-writing ability.  They use a doom metal-styled pacing to build up each track and give it depth, with the same riffs being repeated over and over, changing it slightly over time, before fading midway through the track to give you a bit of a breather, then slowly building back up towards the end.  It’s just a really well crafted piece of music.

The drumming is solid, but never overdone.  Oftentimes in black metal the drummer will just blast away like a maniac relentlessly from beginning to end, but Aaron uses a more intelligent approach, he blasts when it’s appropriate and simplifies things and tones it down when the guitars do.  The vocals of Nathan and Will are raw and filled with spite and agony, neither one breaks into clean vocals as many melodic and atmospheric black metal bands do.  While raspy vocals may seem inappropriate for soothing melodies, it actually works amazingly well, due to the awesome production values.

Wolves In The Throne Room won’t blow you away with their speed or technical proficiency, they won’t beat you over the head with the black metal imagery, these guys are just here to write amazing songs and play them to the best of their ability.  While I had absolutely no intention of liking Black Cascade when I first got it, after one listen I was an instant fan, and after multiple listens I’m officially obsessed with this album.  It won’t appeal to all black metal fans, many will find it too soft for their liking, but this is exactly the kind of stuff I love to listen to when I just want to chill out or work.  I’m going to get shit for this from some folks for liking this, but I really don’t give a fuck, Black Cascade is one of the most entertaining black metal albums I’ve ever heard and I’ll be listening to this a lot over the next few weeks, or even months.  If you’ve got an open mind, definitely give this album a listen.

Review byTeufel