Wolves In The Throne Room howl again.
Two years after their seventh album, the band comprising Cedar Serpent (drums/keyboards/vocals), Nathan Weaver (vocals/guitar/keyboards) and Kody Keyworth (guitar/vocals), aided by Galen Baudhuin (bass, Infera Bruo, Street Tombs, Aridus, ex-Trap Them) unveil Crypt of Ancestral Knowledge, their new EP, on Relapse Records and Century Media Records.
Beholden to Clan lets ghostly vocals drive us into a first wave of majestic sounds, haunted by raw vocal parts. Keyboards mingle with blast to fuel the contrast between fury and beauty, sometimes complemented by heady leads that fit perfectly with a frantic rhythm or, on the contrary, a more impressive and slower pace before a foghorn puts an end to it, leaving Twin Mouthed Spring to follow with heavy tones and whispers. Soothing melodies join the waves of dark sounds and howls that effortlessly rise from the unstoppable flow, before Initiates of the White Hart begins to bewitch us with crystalline tones. A few whispers come to life in the hazy rhythm of this Pagan/Neo Folk-influenced instrumental composition, gently leading to Crown of Stone, the final track, which lets ethereal keyboards shrouds us in a cocoon of softness before finally giving way to nothingness.
Although very short, Crypt of Ancestral Knowledge allows Wolves In The Throne Room to confirm that the band knows just as well how to use howls and saturation as well as hazy soothing parts to win our hearts.
85/100