_________________________________________________________________________ | . . | . | . | . | . | | . | . | , | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | > | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | ` | ' | | | ' | | ` | ' | ' | ___|___|___|___|_______|_______|___|___|_______|___|_______|_______|_______|___ \______________________________________|______________________________________/ / \ | Artist..: Wilt | >-----------------------------------------------------------------------------< | Album...: Huginn | >-----------------------------------------------------------------------------< | Genre...: Black Metal | Label...: Vendetta Records | | Year....: 2023 | Cat.No..: | >-----------------------------------------------------------------------------< | R.date..: 2023-06-24 | S.date..: 2023-06-23 | >-----------------------------------------------------------------------------< | Source..: WEB (16bit) | Encoder.: libFLAC | | Bitrate.: 901 kbps avg. | F.Rate..: 44.1kHz | >-----------------------------------------------------------------------------< | http://open.qobuz.com/album/eyk85vqm3zctc | >-----------------------------------------------------------------------------< | Disc 1 / 1 | | -------- | | | | 01. Cloaked in Ash 8:40 | | 02. 1831 7:18 | | 03. Resilience 8:57 | | | | | | --------------------- | | (168.22MB) 00:24:55 | >-----------------------------------------------------------------------------< | Today the Canadian atmospheric black metal band Wilt and their label | | Vendetta Records are releasing a new album named Huginn (though some | | purists may prefer to label it an EP). It comes as something of a | | surprise, since it wasn’t preceded by a single or advance publicity, but | | it is a very welcome surprise. | | | | It’s certainly a welcome development here, as anyone would know who has | | come across our previous writings about Wilt’s music, including our | | comments about their 2015 debut album Moving Monoliths or our review of | | their second album Ruin in 2018. To pick out just a few choice words from | | the latter: | | | | “[T[he masterful blending of dark metallic melody and dreamlike serenity | | found on Ruin makes a very good case that this undeniably talented (though | | underwhelmingly named) Canadian quintet deserve serious consideration as | | potential heirs to Agalloch’s vacant mantle (pun very much intended). Of | | course it’s not so much that Wilt sound exactly like Haughm, Dekker, and | | co., it’s more that the group’s sombre, evocative style examines and | | explores many of the same musical themes and ideas, although never in | | exactly the same way”. | | | | Five years on from Ruin, and Agalloch have reassembled themselves, but | | Wilt have returned as well. These haven’t been five good years for the | | world at large, and all the dire and dreadful experiences they delivered | | have influenced what you will hear on Huginn. Here is what Wilt have told | | us about it: | | | | “When we were writing the album, we watched the news and were very angry | | about what was going on. Fires caused by humans. Atrocities committed by | | our government, and so on. But despite all the tragedies and grievances, | | we have the resilience to get through it.” | | | | You’ll see that those words refer to the subject matter of each of the | | three longer-than-average songs that make up Huginn. All together, they | | create a thoroughly captivating and cathartic 25 minutes of music, ranging | | in power from moments of fragile beauty and solitudes of sorrow to | | sweeping storms of fire and fury. By turns hypnotic and harrowing. it’s | | dark music in all its many phases, but (to borrow again from our review of | | Ruin) “rich in both atmospheric ambience and raw emotion”. | | | | True to its name, the opener “Cloaked in Ash” is a musical gaze across a | | fire-charred landscape blanketed in ash. There’s a wistful and forlorn | | feeling to the slow ringing melody that opens the experience, but a more | | desolate mood in the heavy scraping chords that drag the music forward | | over thumping beats, and certainly in the serrated edge of tormented | | screams. The music is immersive, hypnotic, and even soulfully beautiful, | | but unmistakably caught in the throes of anguish. | | | | As a slow build, the song also becomes increasingly expansive and intense | | as it proceeds. The lead guitar grows shrill in its trilling and wailing | | tones, swirling high above the crash and crush in the low end, but it also | | glimmers, poignant in its grief. | | | | The following song, “1831“, shows a different octane of Wilt‘s emotional | | fuel. We don’t know with certainty, but the date may refer to the | | beginning of a period lasting more than 150 years when (per this source) | | the Canadian government “separated some 150,000 Indigenous children from | | their families and forced them to attend the Christian boarding schools in | | an effort to assimilate them into Canadian society. Thousands of children | | died of disease and other causes, and the Canadian government has | | acknowledged that physical and sexual abuse was rampant at these schools”. | | | | The song rages from the beginning, drums in a thundering gallop, the music | | raking the senses, the vocals burning in their intensity. There’s a | | feeling of desperation and pain in the melody, and sensations of | | degradation, heartbreak, and gloom when the pacing slows, though the | | scalding impact of the screams never diminishes. | | | | Once again, Wilt have created a wholly absorbing piece of music. As it | | ebbs, a melancholy guitar solo, backed by somber strumming and a | | slow-rocking groove, tugs hard at the heart-strings even as it casts a | | spell. When it flows, like rapids through a wilderness canyon, it gets the | | heart pounding, and as the music towers, the anguish in the rapidly | | vibrating guitar is again unmistakable. | | | | The band did tell us that we (and they probably meant all of us) have | | reserves of resilience to get through all the tragedies and grievances, | | and so “Resilience” is the name of the final track. Again, Wilt deploy | | slowly ringing notes that cast a spell, enlivened by a hefty bass and | | gripping beats. This one also builds gradually, bringing in more and more | | musical facets and changing moods as it expands in sweep and power. | | | | Despite the song’s title, the music doesn’t seem to see the world through | | rose-colored glasses. It stalks and heaves forward, as if weighted by | | chains, but also becomes lonely and reflective. Ultimately it flares in a | | kind of fierce determination. Near the end, a melodic guitar solo strikes | | in piercing tones, ringing like chimes. It doesn’t sound hopeful, maybe | | more like a strident plea. | | | | The masterful Adam Burke created the cover art for Huginn. Vendetta and | | Wilt are releasing it on 12" vinyl (black and limited color editions) and | | digipack CD, as well as digitally, and shirts are also available adorned | | by the artwork of Misanthropic-Art. | \_____________________________________________________________________________/ ixxu!imp