Somehow in my wildest morbid dreams I didn't think I'd ever be reviewing a new Frost album, especially after the whole "Cold Lake" fiasco and the rather tepid "Vanity/Nemesis" attempt at a return to glory that came out in 1990. In my mind all the rumors and threats of a reunion flying around during the last 5 years were hopefully just talk to keep the Celtic Frost name alive and in the vocabulary of new metalheads. There are only a few metal bands that are considered cornerstones and eccentric innovators and where if they didn't exist the whole metal world would be drastically different. Celtic Frost is one of those elite cornerstone bands which sprouted from its necromantical womb the likes of death metal, black metal, avant garde metal and many old thrash bands draw direct influence off the Frosty great ones. Notwithstanding Frost's incredible legacy, why the comeback now? A better question is, would the Celtic Frost name be sullied with all the other dregs of former comeback bands from the 1980's? Amazingly enough the band have captured the spirit and art they were performing during the classic "Into the Pandemonium" album, however "Monotheist" is a far far heavier, sullen, and doomy affair with slight touches of dark gothic overtones. The sound production initially is very dry and brittle with Tom's guitar abundantly high in the mix, however the depth and undertones of the mids and lows surface and really I can't imagine this disc sounding any other way. This is the modern sounding Frost guitar tone that crunches and lingers with the perfect droning sustain. Song wise, everything is based on the almighty Frost riff which Tom Warrior slings with a simple yet brutally lumbering groove. "Monotheist" is easily the heaviest and most oppressive Celtic Frost disc which happened to make my 1985 "To Mega Therion" jean back patch cower and whimper in the corner. As usual the Frosty ones do counter balance some of the oppressive dirge with their unique take on the enchanted love song like "Obscured" and the beguiling gothic leanings of "Drown in Ashes." Still, the band seems determined to prove to the world they are remain one of the unquestionable heavy bands around and by the gods they succeed over and over again with songs like "Ground," "Progeny" and "Triptych" song trilogy. However the band shines most with the heavy yet hummable "Ain Elohim", "Os Abysmi Vel Daath," and the slow ominous theatrical "A Dying God Coming Into Human Flesh." The song "Domain of Decay" seems to be the only homage to previous Celtic Frost classics with its main riff oozing "Circle of the Tyrants" wickedness and with Tom Warrior conjuring up his trademark grunts. This isn't a band wallowing in their prior greatness or a bunch of washed up musicians hoping that getting the band back together will resurrect their career. No, this is pure artistry from vital and passionate individuals whose art and vision have always ran counter to mainstream metal and underground metal community. All the hails and glory be given to the morbid kings and the art they birth.

A person's wakening from a blackened fevered induced night terror; a person's sudden awareness that the concept of their reality is slipping; a person's terror paralyzed thoughts during a slow motion seizure induced stroke; a person's realization that all those previous things are happening with bad Halloween music being played by a CD player with its battery dying in a ebb and flow slurring manner. The music on this album is pure dissonance and evil with tempos that yawn and shift in and out of time. Many black metal and rock bands strive to be all evil and misanthropic but that is kitten play compared to Blut Aus Nord's music. This album is the sound of madness with an evil unbalanced intent. Blut Aus Nord's prior work "The Work Which Transforms God" took black metal sound tenets as far into the nether regions with its Godflesh industrial pummel yet still the sounds of a black metal band were recognizable. On "Metamorphosis of Realistic Theories" Blut Aus Nord has created their own genre and spectrum of music that has little resemblance to black metal anymore. This is basically one song divided up into eight parts that seem to be deconstructed, intermingled and looped back onto itself. Its disturbingly unique, dark slow motion industrially tinged, hypnotically bleak, with blackened tempo swells, collectively make an uncomfortable attentive listen. Visionary albums like this one are hard to evaluate in the short term. Is it a creation of a genius or idiot blinded by his own schizophrenic misanthropic ways? Only time and gnosis will reveal its long term greatness.

At least once a year I will run across an album that will literally smack me upside the head yelling in its high screechy album voice listen to me or else. And I have to listen because its got that high screechy album voice and besides albums this morbidly compelling and artistically visceral only enter a person's consciousness a few times in a lifetime. It's nigh on impossible to describe this album in detail without losing touch of what makes it special and also without making the album sound foolish and over pretentious. I mean there are songs about Elvis's unborn brother and the 911 tragedy, the sounds of braying donkeys, charging Cossacks in the fields of white roses, a tale of Mussolini's girlfriends hanging, meat being slammed, anthrax jesus, pee pee soaked trousers, and punching donkeys in the streets of Gallway. All of this wacked out subject matter for songs is backed by surrealist existential music that is nearly theatrical and more closely resembles a soundtrack to a really disturbing Ingmar Bergman movie. Each song is its own story or its own literal theater play with an ominous claustrophobic, frenzied, foreboding, disturbing music that is orchestral based with a rumbling percussive undertone. Scott Walker's vocals are mostly uttered in speaking singing fashion that is creepy and dramatic but not that dissimilar to Anthony and the Johnsons for its uniqueness in quality and operatic theatrics. After finding this enigma of an album I did some research. Scott Walker used to be in the Walker Brothers who were almost as popular as the Beatles in Europe during the 1960's. Walker went on to do a couple of pop solo albums before going experimental or maybe just mentally unstable. This is only the third album released by Walker in the last 30 years, so Walker seriously takes his music and artistry not for granted. Every ponderous and extravagant sound element and lyrical passage fits perfectly together to form a disturbing visual and sonic imagery for the listener. The most compelling aspect of this album is Walker's confounding visually symbolistic lyrics and the textures of sound that lead the listener into the story of the song. It is not often I'm bewildered and confused by a musical discovery, yet the sheer artistry and powerful visions this music conjures in the mind are hard to describe without doing justice to those visions. Ok, I reviewed your album Scott Walker, don't come and kill me in my sleep or better yet please make that high screechy album voice go away so I can listen to some other music.

After my ambient epiphany last year, directly inspired by William Basinski's "Disintegration Loops," it has been a struggle to find my path in the world of ambient music. Only a handful of artists have peaked my interest and attention. Obviously I tripped over the ambient corpse left behind by Brian Eno along my path and I have granted many indulgences and genuflections on his greatness. Of course anything by Basinski still puts me in an ambient drool, but then the pickings get slim for amazing ambient sounds. Another groundbreaking ambient artist I like a lot is Andrew Chalk, but he only seems to produce reissues of past greatness from limited tape or vinyl releases. After many failed excursions down either dreadfully boring or annoyingly irritating experiments with new ambient artists, I finally came upon a worthy contender for my ambient dreams and it's Tim Hecker. Hecker has been recording ambient under his own name since 2001 and his previous recordings have been described as "structured ambient", "pop ambient", and "tectonic color plates." Those are great descriptions of the way Hecker explores and manipulates shimmering dissonant melodies with low end granulated rumbling noises while keeping the presence of an actual song and song structure flowing and memorable. "Harmony in Ultraviolet" is divided into sections of tracks with each individual piece seeping one into the other. Musically its all about the beautiful crackling shimmer of a fine misted distortion field that engulfs the senses and vibrates the mind. The dichotomy of Hecker's music is the delicate tension between his use of melody and the shimmering sheen of distortional drone that battle for dominance in each song without either ever truly winning. "Harmony in Ultraviolet" is the sonic equivalent of a well worn beloved dream that you are consciously able to repeat and enjoy over and over. Rejoice and dream in the shimmering vaporous swirl.

The Mastodon boys are being pushed and pimped by the music world as the next big metal savior or a modern day Metallica for the next generation of metal heads. There is a smidgin of truth in the comparison: both bands had their third album picked up by a major label, both bands third albums sounded like no other band in the heavy metal scene, both bands bootstrapped themselves into their elevated positions in the metal world through constant touring, both bands use acoustic intros nicely. Let's hope that Mastodon doesn't follow Metallica into the nethers of suckage, but I don't envision that happening because Mastodon's sound is too complex for the general public. That being said, there is a definitive Mastodon sound which is highly influenced by Voivod, Thin Lizzy, Today Is the Day, Iron Maiden, Keelhaul, Jesus Lizard boogie shuffle, Led Zeppelin, old Metallica, and a huge heaping dollop of Southern rock. "Blood Mountain" style isn't that far removed from their prior album "Leviathan's" sound yet the band did seem to supplement a bit more of the proggie complexity into their labyrinthine twists and turns in their songs. The only possible contention for Mastodon fanboys is that the vocals are mostly sung but not in the screaming fashion from the first two albums. Granted the band was heading in this direction anyway so yelling sellout on that one aspect is trivial. Mastodon continues the ethos of all the great heavy metal bands by having great visual and mythological beasts as their lyrics and album art. This isn't a groundbreaking album for Mastodon, but then again it's not mediocre or a sub par outing either. They are pushing their own unique sound and vision ever so slightly. I'm crossing my fingers and praying to Ole' Nessie that the nethers of suckage are far into the future for the band.

Gather all the women and men folk! It's time for some old time tent revival gospel music. Come hear the winsome whiskey voiced preacher man sing songs of redemption, pain, alienation, sorrow, unworthiness, and faith. Be lulled into attentive receptive suggestibility by familiar old european melodies reminiscent of celtic ditties and traditional folk songs. Quack at the ominous foreboding tales of sorrow through creepy jaunty drones. Repent or be smote by the hand of god. Feel the dirt and chafe when your knees tire from prayer. Listen with all your heart and soul as the old testament appalachian music infests your body and tears away the sins. Furious intensity of faith rises to a fevered rhythmic pitch before serene meditations of illumination wash over and cleanse the spiritual self. Bones and flesh are soon chastised by the vicious circle of the fall and the cycle repeats. Harrow and fear the self as the menacing preacher foretells the weakness of the double minded man with vivid imaginary and simmering earthy chants. Hark not at the abyss though when beautiful slide acoustic guitar picking and organ drones point the way out of the barrens and into the glory. Hear the voices and feel the spiritual weariness of the brethren flock singing their hallelujahs and shuffling back to mundane life. Walk away uplifted and spiritually exhausted, yet awaiting eagerly the return of the preacher man next year with his glorious songs of faith and redemption.

The wait for this album was excruciatingly long. Their last album, "Deadlands," came out nearly four years ago, but the wait was well worth it. "Desiderata" is an exceptional album that is able to work on many levels of musicality: hauntingly beautiful, heavy brutal groove, slow burning jazz interludes, to all out heavy metal ecstasy. Compared to "Deadlands" this album almost has a "feel good" quality along with being very sonically diverse, which is counter to the dark, doomy bleakish feel of their prior album. As always, Agnete Kirkevaag has the best female vocals in all of metaldom, this Nordic siren is like a reincarnation of Grace Slick but with the balls of heavy metal goddess. Vocally, Agnete use many stylings and textures like soft lullaby vocals, emotive sensual passionate passages, and screaming banshee wails. The music is also just as sonically diverse and can vacillate from dark metal, death metal, nu-metal, and at times a pure heavy metal with a similarity to Nevermore, all within the confines of a single song. One of the most memorable songs of the year has to be "M for Malice," not just because its a cool name rip off of "V for Vendetta," but its chorus and riff structure is so catchy and hummable. My favorite song on "Desiderata" has to be "Flypos" which starts out sounding like a perverted Bjork song where she is running through the forest chased by that big stuffed animal bear. It has huge deep tribal drums and a massive chugging riff that propels the song forward until a semi funky groove takes over the song and then those massive chugging guitars return to close the song. Another song highlight is "Hangman" which begins as a slow burning jazz thing then midway into the song it turns into a crushing goose pimple raising beast that seethes and rages. On "Hangman," Agnete starts out with a soft crooning and then gets progressively more aggressive and hysterical as the song continues. This album is full of goose pimple moments with songs packed full of dynamic twists and turns. Madder Mortem has carved out a distinct sound that's all their own. Hopefully their next album will not be delayed and the band can continue with the enthralling and enchanting music.

And so the love hate relationship continues with this band, actually it's more like a love and then complete disinterest relationship. After my complete ambivalence towards their last album "The Quiet Offspring" I'm not really sure why I even bought this album. It's definitely a sheer delight at my fortune that I did purchase this disc, because it's a beautiful soft organic fragile album that has kept me enthralled since it arrived in my possession. For being an acoustic album there is a depth and complexity that usually isn't heard in acoustic albums by most bands. It's not all just simplistic acoustic strumming either with layers of theramin, viola, cello, and violin that flesh out the sound profile and they also add a solemn tragic feel. There is a sad and forlorn undertone that pervades this album that isn't that far removed from late period Antimatter, especially in the gorgeous chorus in the "9-29-45" trilogy. Also it seems that they conceived these songs as acoustic and not just stripped of electricity because it's apparent in the rich orchestral song writing and detailed rich composing. The album starts with a dour and festively militant beat that drives "Sweet Leaf" with its thinly veiled dialogue between parent and child. The vocals by both Kjetil and Stein are heartfelt and touching without sounding too sweet and trite. On the song "Alone," a poem by Edgar Allan Poe, the band's use of the violin to deliver the captivating melody along with the packing acoustic guitars, show how the band is able to compose great brief songs. The masterpiece and centerpiece of the album is the song "9-29-045" that is divided into three movements. Pink Floyd comparisons can be made with its sweeping haunting melodies and underlying sequencers that give this song a '70s progressive richness. Again the vocals are heartfelt and delivered with passion. "The Acoustic Verses" is the perfect blend of extraordinary vocal lines and beautifully arranged thoughtful music that has exceeded all my expectations of this band. Given my history with Green Carnation I'll treasure this gorgeous album and hope that someday we will meet again and further the relationship, but my hopes aren't too high. Maybe I'll give the band two more releases before I tempt fate again.

A band called Giant Squid and an album named after fields of sea anemone. Well, this review is too easy. Just insert some pithy metaphor about oceanic vastness, vaguely familiar yet alien untamed territories and the strange tranquil beauty of the ocean's power and creatures within. Nevertheless, how trite and easy that review, would be this band and album does have all those qualities and uniqueness. A lot of the metal press is playing up the Neurosis sound comparison angle which touches on only a minor part of Giant Squid's soundscape. There are hints of the heavy apocalyptic Neurosis gazing in their sound, however Giant Squid also incorporates dissonant indie-rock, swirling Arabian flourishes, enticingly delicate lilting melodies, trumpet interludes, swaying sustaining organ swells and quirky Thinking Fellers Union Local 282 pop sensibilities. The vocals are were a legitimate comparison can be made with others. The lead singer Aaron Gregory at times sounds like the brother of the dude from from System of the Down, however after a few listening sessions, this comparison becomes moot and soon passes quickly from the mind. The sweet female vocal lines also have a faint resemblance to Third and the Immortal and Aurielle Gregory's death metal yells curdle the brain gelatin not unlike Kathy Cathar's death yells from Ludicra. The album starts with the song "Neonate" which sets a major precedent of greatness with its huge mammoth riffs and sea weary fragile melody lines that augment each other until a Alchemist-like Arabian keyboard and flute flourishes give way to those mammoth riffs again. The introductory lulling jazzy vibes of "Versus the Siren" with its mellow atmosphere dominates with haunting vocals from Aurielle and sanguine trumpeting, before some serious Thinking Fellers quirky pop jamming erupts, and then the band return to the blue noted jazzy vibe. "Ampullae of Lorenzini" bombastically pummels with near Neurosis ferocity, yet the band contrast the bombast with hushed tranquil ambience and floating 70's proggy interlaced swells. The closing song "Metridium Field" is a giant behemoth twenty minutes in length, yet the songsmithing makes the organic ebb and flow of the long gradual buildup transcend the dimension of time. It's an incredible song that wraps up the album perfectly by immersing the listener in a spacious world of serene bliss with a mellow blue tinged trumpet and primal resonating organ propelling the song into the horizon. A crappy feature I learned about Giant Squid was they used to be located in Sacramento and played out often. I vaguely remember their name but then again giant squids are mythological creatures of the deep so it might have been my imagination. Giant Squid compose genuinely brilliant music that is nearly unclassifiable in this postmodern metal world and I can't wait until I'm able to experience this mythological beast live.

With music being such a vital and lifelong part of who I am, it's incredible that I still haven't gotten past the whole mixing ideology or politics in music. I thought my indiscretions with punk during my teenage years, with all its puritanical ideological madness, had excised that from my feelings about music and the ideas behind the musical work. I guess politics and music do make strange bedfellows because "The Locust Years" crystalizes my feelings on the war politics that have prospered the last 5 years. Anyway, if the music sucked then, all the ideas and thoughts are just a vapid intellectual group hug, however the Hammers have nailed this album musically. Sonically, it's pure traditional heavy metal with nods to early Maiden, Thin Lizzy, and Blue Oyster Cult with their own weird progressive psychedelia metal quirks. "The Locust Years" has some amazingly memorable songs like "Trot out the Dead," "The Locust Years," and "Widow's Wall," but the album as a whole is too grand and unifying in its themes and musical structure to just be individual song fodder. The music is seamlessly composed with a unique interplay between the mix of acoustic and electric guitars, acoustic and electric pianos, and a Hammond organ. The main propellant for the album is the twin guitar harmonies and the Hammond organ, however the vocal exchange between male and female are brilliant and fit perfectly. The mastermind behind the music is guitarist John Cobbett who also writes for another great San Francisco band, Ludicra. It should be interesting to note that the future of the band's sound will change quite a bit with the loss of male vocalist Mike Scalzi, (also of the mighty Slough Feg) and the loss of lead female vocalist Jamie Myers. The opener "The Locust Years" is a barn burner of twin guitar dynamics that sets the stage by inviting the listener to witness the show. The song "Chastity Rides" sweeps along with an epic feel that could easily be a Thin Lizzy song, except for its lambasting of conservative christians with its lyrical theme. "Trot out the Dead" has to be one of years catchiest songs, yet also the most politically scathing with a chorus that will just stick in your head. The last track on the album "Widow's Wall," is a faultless closure with its soaring melodies, epic dynamic build-ups and amazing vocals. The lyrical theme of this album proposes that war is a societal perversity. War instills people with a culture, mythology, and language that eventually distorts history through fear or failed hindsight so it can propagate. All this politico mumbo jumbo represents nothing if the songs didn't kick serious butt and be memorable at the same time, which the Hammers succeed magnificently. "The Locust Years" is one of classiest and creative albums of traditional heavy metal since Queensryche's "Operation Mindcrime" and hopefully the band's sound will not evolve too much in the future. Trot out the Lies, and raise your knuckles to the sun.

Distill 80% of the Isis or Neurosis sound out of Cult of Luna and replace with a heaping of the patented Radiohead melancholic angst, and a dollop of The God Machine vastness, and then you will have a good idea of the sounds Khoma exudes on "The Second Wave." Khoma hails from Umea, Sweden, another Swedish hotbed of amazing bands like Refused, International Noise Conspiracy, Perishers, Meshuggah, along with Cult Of Luna which happens to share two members with Khoma. The band started as a side project of two members of Cult of Luna, Johannes Persson, guitar, and Fredrik Kihlberg, guitarist/piano, along with emotive lead singer Jan Jamte. Actually the band is two entities, the recording band with the Cult of Luna band members, and the touring band which has its own members plus Jan the singer. Jan is sonically an irreplaceable element of the sound of the band with his incredibly sad yearning vocals. At times his vocals are remindful of Thom Yorke from Radiohead, or Jonas from Far, although those subtle resemblances don't hinder the listener from the amazing vocal performance he delivers on "The Second Wave." Musically, the band is able to produce a massive vast soundscape that vacillates from loud and soft all the while somehow emitting a sense of fragility and frailness. The band's sound ethos is that sometimes a whisper is more powerful than a scream. "The Guillotine" starts the album with a slow brooding epic melancholic introduction to the Khoma sound with cellos, muted bass lines, and yearning passionate vocals that are undefinable in sound, like how Tool defies classification. By the second song, "Stop Making Speeches," the listener is totally drawn in with its tribal drumming and fantastic vocal melody, which becomes particularly powerful once the chorus is reached. Even the morose ballads, like "Hyenas," with its slow drum beat and gorgeous piano melodies that counterpoint the guitar lines have a grandeur that draws the listener into the song. All Khoma's songs entrap the listener with either a lulling opening or a tribal jubilant introduction that the band then counters with layers of progressive complexity until the soaring triumphant choruses reach out to the listener with spine chilling intensity. Hopefully, Khoma is able to continue as a functioning band, because these soaring solemn beautiful frail songs never tire and transcend categorization.

Its pretty amazing how off my gut reaction and instinct were to this album. My initial response and opinion were that this album was an utter rip off of the later period Neurosis sound and vision, which shouldn't be too surprising since the Cult of Luna sound core is based on the Neurosis back catalog. However their last album "Salvation" was an evolved "Oceanic" experience so I thought the band would progress more along the lines of the bombastic tranquility and Isis-like softer touches of ambience on this latest release. Boy was I wrong, Cult of Luna have perfected the "Salvation" sound design and now have added minimalistic, pastoral sounds similar to those heard on Neurosis's "Eye of Every Storm." I vehemently cried foul and blasphemy to all the ancient gods and threw down the cd in disgust. Later, after settling down, I gave the album a proper chance and listen. There is a lot more happening then sheer Neurosis cloning and counterfeiting occurring on this album. Cult of Luna have perfected their style from the "Salvation" album where they painted in bright sound hues and washes with languid mesmerizingly slow buildups. Nearly half of the song "Dim" is a giant incremental crescendo buildup of overlaying sounds: subliminal wind, piano tinklings, Blade Runner synths, chime laden Cure sounding guitar riffings, and that mighty Cult of Luna power chord density that all builds up to a giant breathtaking crest. Also "Back to Chapel Town" and "Thirtyfour" continue on with the melancholic heaviness thread from "Salvation," yet the emotional moments seem more calculated and controlled by a more mature group of songsmiths. The song "And With Her Came the Birds," with its pastoral, Earth guitar warble, jazz brush drums, banjo, and somebody imitating Steve Von Till’s gravelly weathered vocals, was a bewildering first listen and made my stomach sour with rip off juice. However, after my initial feelings of betrayal subsided I found this song to be an amazing display of atmosphere with its perfect rainy wind swept rolling plains feel and lonesome tranquility. The opening track "Marching to the Heartbeats" also displays this new aspect with it's warm rustic etherealness along with the traditional Cult of Luna pristine bright washes of sound. Thematically, the album deals in loneliness and escaping a big brother society which fits the music perfectly. Thankfully, I doubted my initial thoughts on this album and was able to reconcile the sonic textural dimensions the band have decided to add to their sonic identity. On this album Cult of Luna has progressed into one of the elite bands that have perfected their own sound and vision. They have also been able to gracefully incorporate sonic aspects and ideas from others without losing their identity and without selling out their previous albums. Somewhere along the highway a lonely refuted goddess is hitchhiking looking for a ride to the apocalypse.

I wander back into the grey hoping expectations are unfettered and tamed.
My desire and past disillusionment succumb to the onward motion of time.
Embrace the call.
Prior wooded enchantment nourished the heart and soul.
Majestic beauty painted away the dull transparent mundane.
Embrace the call.
Strong is the jaded black fortress built on years growth.
Disappointment dims my soul and stains the cherished memories.
Embrace the call.
Mystery and longing compels but the path looks worn.
Embrace the call.
The familiar brings joy and remembrance of warm melancholy spiritual times.
Blackened shadow slowly withers off my heart and soul.
Joyous melodies hex and transfix.
Foreboding dour beauty glistens and drips enchantment.
Crashing bliss envelops and caressingly guides into the ether.
Sages lament the futility and foolishness of our profane abasement.
Harvest reap will nourish during long winter nights ahead.
Cares painted in the sky with golden reverence for new found earthbound hymns.
Embrace the call.

Negura Bunget have a long history of tapping into the mystic spiritual realms of their Romanian homeland by manifesting the mythology of the dark lands of Transylvania in their music. The band continues on their spiritual journey after four years of silence, with the album "Om," which furthers their sound and philosophical vision of their music with rich sonic details embellished by Old European instruments and ambience. Thematically, the album is grounded in the symbolism and concept of om. In the Romanian language om means man, or human being, yet in the Hindu ethos om represents the contemplative elevated state of being, by the evaluation on the manifest and unknowable aspects of god. Negura Bunget merge these different cultural differences of meaning into their own philosophy where the mediation is on the alchemical journey through the death and rebirth cycle. Musically, the band translates their om philosophy into delicate yet majestic aural paintings that push the orthodox black metal sound into wider realms. "Ceasuri Rele" starts the album with a foreboding ethereal ambient lushness that has some of the most hysterically passionate over the top vocals since the early days of the band Bethlehem. The epic "Tesarul De Lumini" showcases Negura Bunget's new progressively evolved black metal sound with its soothing emotive guitar line that soars and refrains throughout the song. Additionally, the brooding flowing keyboard washes set the foundational undertone for the song. The traditional Negura Bunget icy discordant riffs appear but are soon replaced with an electrified folk strumming that evokes images in the mind of darkened foggy mountains and bogs. The band has an amazing ability of tying songs together with sweeping vibrant ambient passages, like on "Primul Om," or with Old European folk instruments like on "Norilor." "Inarborat" chillingly opens with a ancient horn blowing repeatedly above harmonious sweeping keyboards seemingly calling warriors to battle before a blazing galloping wall of black metal guitars throttles the listener into submission. The song soon evolves and slows down the frenzied tempo with mournful Romanian chants, organic bass fills, wood block percussion, and eventually reverts back to the traditional black metal tremolo riffage. The song "Hora Soarlui" pushes the sonic boundaries of black metal further into the blackened distance. Initially, the song blasts with black razor shards but it quickly turns into a Zamfir's perverted wet dream with its trilling pan flute flourishes being backed by clean Romanian singing with Old European ethnic melodies floating in the background. With "Om," Negura Bunget musically awakens the consciousness and leads the spirit on a proverbial journey with its imaginative and transcendent new use of black metal and ambient passages. This mystical album is truly a guidebook for human elevation and a vanguard for other black metal bands to strive to attain.

Music is a metaphor. Be it a symbol of rebellion, joy, sadness, call to action, or just apathy. Wolves in the Throne Room use their music to represent nature's desolate elements and the grand cosmos. Music is also a way to transcend the mundane of daily life and transform one's consciousness. Wolves in the Throne Room use blackened metal's ethos of sadness, misanthropy, hopelessness, and primal loss as a conduit to exit out of this technological world and be transported into the magical realms of nature and the celestial wonders. Wolves endeavor to transform the consciousness to feel the rhythmic cycles, and primal energies of gaia that are being drowned out by today's modern society. The band is able to transpose and connect into this transformational process by using stretched out repetitive song structures that engulf the mediative listener with gorgeous soaring melodies, dark sustaining drones, blast driven beats, deranged hysterical shrieking, enchanting dulcet female chants, and lumbering dirges, that represent the terrifying reverence of the wild. With song lengths averaging 15 minutes the band is able to introduce and develop intricate sonorous motifs, and then transition away from these motifs, and finally after as the song has evolved, return to the earlier motif. It's almost like a shaman guiding an apprentice through a spiritual journey into the familiar unknown. Wolves employ black metal as a medium for their music and pay homage to the old school masters like Ulver, Burzum, Enslaved, Weakling, and In the Woods. The band builds upon these masters' foundations and are able to forge their own feral dampened melodic sound. The opening song "Queen of the Borrowed Light" erupts with Ulverian melodies that evolve into celebratory crusading swells for the goddess of light. The middle section melds "Bergatt" acoustic melodies with grim blast beats that prepare the way for the impending Weakling misanthropic dirge, that soon shape shifts back into a meditative drone, that eventually reprises back into the initial celebratory tone. As the goddess moon descends from her pedestal in the sky the grim blackened night unwillingly gives way to the dawn. "Face in a Night Time Mirror" is a two part herculean epic of twenty seven minutes in duration that delves deep into the psyche of damp ancient earthy forests. The immensity and scope of this song is breathtaking and daunting with its majestic sustaining dissonance, haunting angelic female vocals, acoustic folk strumming, droning melancholy, blazing majestic blackened melodies, sad eloquent doom passages, blast driven beats, furious vocal raspings, and hypnotic fuzzed out repetitive riffage. All these song elements are perfectly blended together into a seamless song(s) that powerfully entrances and transports one into the heart of the ancient woods. The closing song on the album, "(A Shimmering Radiance) Diadem of 12 Stars" begins with a slumberous lament before visions of walking in the woods with the universes astrological radiance blazing down upon the luminous emanation seeker. Swirling miasma of melodic maelstroms enchant with wonder and awe as an amorphous enchantress's song slowly bewitches the senses. The vastness soon dazzles and overwhelms the senses, which is understood as otherworldly blackened drones and cosmic rumblings. A brilliance of ferocious cacophonous melodies intertwined with enchanting and howling cries blaze understanding and revelation down from the mysterious firmament. With this masterpiece, "Diadem of 12 Stars," the band has elegantly voiced their sad aural expression of being estranged from the elemental mythic ways of nature and the majestic celestial grandeur, which are a source of wisdom and power from which modern day society has slowly been ostracizing itself.