My HeadBangers welcome from Olympia, Washington the “Atmospheric Dark Ambient Black Metal” Band:
Wolves In The Throne Room
“Born From The Serpent’s Eye”
Listen to that! This is the first time in all my years of listening and blogging about Metal, that when I listened to this song, not knowing anything about the band, I assumed this was a black metal band from the Nordic part of the planet. There is no way anyone could have told me different. They have that sound and my EAR was totally surprised, not to mention happy to have found them right here in the USA.
“Mountain Magick”
AND the sound just gets better and better. These guys have got me going 120 in the 45 zone. Let’s take a look at some bio on this band that has just floored me…..
The band was formed in 2003 in Olympia, Washington, by brothers Aaron and Nathan Weaver. They have released six full-length albums, two live albums, and one EP to date. They have stated one of the founding concepts of the band to be channeling the “energies of the Pacific Northwest’s landscape” into musical form.
Their videos put me right in the middle of a primordial forest when druids ruled and everything was kissed by magic.
Aaron and Nathan Weaver formed the band in 2003. Their first practice took place in a falling-down cabin located on the then-abandoned and overgrown Calliope Farm, which they had recently moved to. Nathan met Nick Paul at a local party and the three began to write material for their first demo. At the time, Nick was heavily influenced by thrash, speed, and death metal, citing bands like Death and Bolt Thrower, as well as post-punk and gothic rock influences such as Swans, Siouxsie and the Banshees, and Fields of the Nephilim. Aaron and Nathan’s musical style was more informed by crust, doom, Norwegian black metal and American black metal.
I knew my Nordic black metal was in there!
The band’s first release was their 2004 demo, a black CD-R wrapped in fur with moss inside the lyric sheet. Nick Paul left the band soon after the first demo was recorded.
That my HeadBangers is one CD I would love to have gotten!
Richard Dalahn joined the band in early 2005. They then began working on material for a second demo, which would end up including 2 tracks off of their first studio album “Diadem of 12 Stars”.
“Diadem of 12 Stars” was their debut full-length album and was released in 2006 it was recorded with a budget of $1100 by Tim Green at Louder Studios in San Francisco.
The band played shows on the way down to San Francisco from Olympia to raise money for the project and borrowed equipment from local band Ludicra. The album attracted the attention of Southern Lord Records, who signed the band, reissuing it on vinyl.
The band released their second full-length album Two Hunters in 2007, the first part of a trilogy of albums that was concluded with Celestial Lineage. Two Hunters would be the first time the band would with producer Randall Dunn, who produced later releases Black Cascade and Celestial Lineage. During the Two Hunters sessions, the band began to work with analog synthesizers such as the Korg Polysix and the Minimoog, which has become a crucial feature in the band’s sound. Persian classical singer Jessika Kenney performed vocals on the songs “Cleansing” and “I Will Lay Down my Bones Among The Rocks And Roots.”
“I Will Lay Down My Bones Among The Rocks And Roots”
Wolves in the Throne Room has not incorporated most of the traditional traits of black metal such as corpse paint, the use of pseudonyms and Satanic imagery. Member Aaron Weaver has said, “Wolves in the Throne Room is not black metal, or, more accurately, we play black metal on our own terms, for our own reasons.” And unlike most modern metal bands, Wolves in the Throne Room always use vintage amplifiers and recording equipment.
And this my HeadBangers is why I have fallen for this band. They do it on their own terms. Much respect guys, and keep doing it that way. Stand out and above the crowd.
Wolves in the Throne Room prefer their live concerts to be firelit, whether it be performing outdoors or in an indoor venue.
OK guys you have to come to Kansas City!!
Seriously let’s meet this band:
Nathan Weaver – guitar, lead vocals (2003 – present)
Aaron Weaver – drums, bass, synthesizers (2003 – present)
Kody Keyworth – guitar, vocals (2017 – present)
Wolves in the Throne Room has often cited American band Neurosis as a key inspiration because their music “operates on a deep and intense mythic level”.
My Thoughts:
Well my HeadBangers there are times when I don’t have a lot to say and then there are times when I have so much to say about a band. Wolves in the Throne Room is one of those bands. Everything they believe in comes across to me in their music. Their videos are just so well done, I feel like I’m watching the story they are singing about. As a lover of all things magical and dark, it can all be found in this band. Like a story unfolding before my eyes I keep wanting more. My spirit animal is the wolf, maybe that’s why I am drawn into their mystical world. The forest, deep and dark but yet it offers peace at the same time.
This is the first time in 3 years that a band has affected me in a way that is more than fire, it is the oneness with the wolf and the magic. This band is SAVAGE…..
Please feel free to leave me a comment or question, I appreciate it HeadBangers: