Wolves In the Throne Room's latest album expresses the band's mystical shamanic environmentalist message via a fusion of howling, furious, misanthropic black metal with spiritual, contemplative music. The Aaron Weaver's use of synthesisers in these compositions is distinct from Varg Vikernes' tinkerings in Burzum, a project whose metal side seems to have been an influence on the band (despite the Weaver brothers coming from precisely the opposite side of the political spectrum to Varg); whereas Burzum's synthesiser use drew inspiration from ambient music, here the synths are used to put the listener in mind of choirs and church organs and the like. Equally, occasional outbreaks of acoustic guitar and female vocals show a mild folk music influence on the album.
The general concept seems to be of natural wildernesses as being sacred spaces in their own right, and by and large the album is very successful at getting the idea across, with the slow closer Prayer of Transcendence somehow managing to transform black metal from a cold, angry, misanthropic hellstorm into something more contemplative and, well, transcendent. Purists may sneer, but there's little doubt in my mind that Wolves are presenting a profoundly different and novel take on the genre with this album, and it certainly inspires me to check out more of their work. Combining the musical approach of Burzum or Darkthrone with the aesthetic and spiritual stance of, say, the early Tyrannosaurus Rex albums or Devendra Banhart really shouldn't work as well as this.