Wolves In the Throne Room
Celestial Lineage

Ashes: ... order placed, postal services permitting, the record will arrive in about fifteen days. In the meantime, should I start listening to a copy I found online, would it bother you?...

Idleness: No no, the anticipation is too much, the moment is huge. I'll wait for the original. Don't tell me anything eh!

A.: Ok... anyway a couple of tracks are already circulating online, at least listen to those!

I.: Nooooo... I've already heard one, but that's enough for now

A.: Alright, I won't insist anymore... At most, I'll jot something down on the blog and that's it!

Ashes couldn't resist and listened to the record after downloading it, Idleness, in the meantime, heard a track in streaming, "Thuja Magus Imperium".

I.: Spectacular sounds, lovely atmospheric and ethereal breaks. They always seem like themselves, and I always hear a lot of Dead Can Dance in the parts with female vocals.

A.: I read somewhere that this piece contains all the elements that WITTR would like to develop in future works... Maybe they'll really become like the Dead Can Dance of black, or like Menace Ruine!

I.: Nah, I doubt it... I mean, they've found their market niche. It's true that in this track they seem to have increased the "open" and ritual parts.

A.: It picks up the thread of "Two Hunters", that's for sure... Now you don't want to hear it, but I'll say it anyway: in my opinion, at times, it even surpasses "Two Hunters", or at least they are on the same level... You'll tell me later!

I.: Wow, really? Well, it would be about time, considering "Black Cascade", I hate to admit it, is inferior to Two Hunters, whereas I found "A Looming Resonance" very interesting, innovative, and experimental.

A.: You know, thinking about it, that track is a great bridge for this new record... Anyway, I wrote down some impressions, you know where to read them if you want!

I.: Nooooooo, or you'll influence me!

After a few days, our two receive the original record

A.: ... this time they went all out... Look at this artwork!

I.: Eh, these guys treat us well, the artwork is beautiful, and the photos inside present something that seems quite beautiful... love the "ghost" photo... Check it out, Aaron Turner and his partner are involved too!

A.: Yes, I read about it... the voice in the second track is his... Also, not shamanic at all as a track that one! And did you hear the guitar "à la Anathema" in the first track with that full-on wah-wah?

I.: Indeed, it reminds me a lot, but you need a keen ear to recognize it. Anyway, admitting that I need to dive deep into the record, my judgment has slightly cooled.

A. That's new to me... Why did your judgment of the record cool?

I.: Well, I'll tell you, assuming "Two Hunters" is a masterpiece and any release by WITTR is essential, I find that in the case of "Celestial Lineage," WITTR opted for "simple," skilled choices, and compared to "Two Hunters" and, for instance, the latest by Agalloch, which are two pieces of art, this is a product: excellent, splendid, and majestic, but a product. I mean, as nice, if not beautiful, as "Astral Blood" is, I didn't expect it from them, it has little of their naturalistic black metal and leans toward frantic Norske Svart Metall that brings with it both DarkThrone and Burzum. Then, for God's sake, for us nostalgics, the proportion Ulver:Agalloch=Emperor=Wolves holds. Splendid, instead, and perhaps my key to delving deep into the album, is "Prayer of Transformation," which has very little black but a lot of ritualistic post-metal, reminding me of some years ago Neurosis; and finally, but we're in the field of beloved mental masturbation, I would have chosen different sounds.

A.: Meaning?

I.: Let's be honest, now they have the money to spend in the studio, and it shows, for example, in the splendid vocals... But sometimes the guitars dip into the incomprehensible, and the drums are a bit light, the recording is not very dynamic: he's a beast and his blast beats are relentless, but indeed, even in the last track, I would have tried more bombastic sounds, something similar to Steve Albini's work, a bass drum a little bigger and deeper. That's it. Now, what do you say, considering I've listened to the album too?

A.: So, in my view, and linking it to the "product" discussion, Agalloch are more artists in this sense, they have followed a different evolutionary path, and "Marrow Of The Spirit" is a huge step forward in their discography. WITTR have gone more slowly, enriched by elements, but the base is always the same, so ironically, I don't think they can appeal now if you didn't like them before. That the sound is different, perhaps lighter, is true, I find it almost easier to approach, at least at the start. Then about the technique, instruments, etc., I won't pronounce, I might say nonsense.

I.: Well, what does that matter, they're judgments, not technical theories!

A.: Paraphrasing what I wrote some time ago on my blog, "it's an album that emanates smells... it’s ancestral, smells of moss and dry leaves, of late autumn, of crunching snow under boots and approaching thunderstorms... it's wild, smells of shiny fur cloaks and of teeth gleaming in the moonlight, of human and animal blood scattered on snowy soils and forever melded into each other, almost as if to reunite the two races. It's shamanic, whispers to you to close your eyelids, makes you fall into an ecstatic trance, lets you see with eyes not your own." What I said doesn't mean much, but if you remember their concert well, you know what I mean!

I.: Oh yes, I agree with those feelings, the smells of that album are exactly what you've described. It's just that with people like them I'm very demanding and so I expect a lot. Anyway, to sum up, did we like this album? Should we give it a score?

A.: On a scale from one to five without using half numbers, for me it's a 4... it would be 4.5 (if not even at certain points a 5!) but I prefer to stay low... you?

I.: Scale of 10?

A.: No, on DeBaser they have unfortunately 5

I.: Damn! I got it, here it's a 5, but in reviews, one can also put it as 10! I tell you 7.5... Now you do the math since I studied literature!

A.: Well, I studied languages, imagine how much I earn! For me, it was an 8 so let's call it a 4 and not talk about it anymore, even knowing it's a bit more than 4! Now we'll wait to see them in November (if the dates are confirmed)!

I.: Let's hope so, I'm already missing Explosions this time...

A.: Ahaahah everyone has their own troubles... Alright then!