WOLVES IN MY ROOM

I've flirted with all types of metal since I was a teenager. Black metal always fascinated me - the cryptic lyrics, the distorted wall of sound. The icy landscapes of the northern Scandinavia that gave birth to so much black metal always compelled me. And yet, I couldn't stand to listen to more than a song or two. My fascination seemed to be all on the surface.

Recently, I started listening to a new band, Wolves in the Throne Room, and I've been drawn back into black metal's web. This band seems to be able to both pay homage to black metal's extreme features while simultaneously experimenting and integrating different genres and new sounds. This is black metal to which I can relate. That kinda freaks me out.



From Wolves in the Throne Room's site -
"Our relationship with the natural world is a healing force in our lives. If you listen to Black Metal, but you dont know what phase the moon is in, or what wild flowers are blooming than you have failed. The music is about wild forests, unfettered rivers, nature: furious and vengeful." This "natural" aesthetic permeates the bands every expression: Lyrically, musically, and ideologically.

"Black Metal is the cleansing fire that frees us from the bondage of rationality, science, morality, religion, leaving us free to choose our own path."

"The deep woe inside black metal is about fear that we can never return to the mythic, pastoral world that we crave on a deep subconscious level"