Wolves in the Throne Room
Encyclopedia
Wolves in the Throne Room is a black metal
band based in Olympia, Washington
.
Their sound is influenced by Scandinavian black metal
, doom metal
, dark ambient
, crust punk
, and folk music
. WITTR has often cited American post-metal
band Neurosis
as a key inspiration because their music "operates on a deep and intense mythic level." They have also mentioned synthesizer artists like Popol Vuh
as an influence.
According to the band, one of the founding concepts of WITTR is to channel the "energies" of the Pacific Northwest's landscape into musical form.
The band’s lyrics focus on themes of Apocalypse, transformation and modern society’s lost connection with the natural world.
rendezvous in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest
in 2002.
In 2004, the band moved to a dilapidated farmstead called Calliope. They have often stated that the creation of their farm-stronghold was linked to their early musical progression. Aaron Weaver’s wife Megan grows organic vegetables at Calliope. The band has expressed bemusement at the mythology that surrounds them, specifically regarding the band’s rural lifestyle. From an interview with Pitchfork:
"I'm sure that some people who meet us are disappointed that we don't dress in un-tanned hides and dwell in caves, while others are surprised that the farm... and our struggle to create a life that mirrors the energy of our music is quite real."
The band’s first release was their 2004 demo. The demo was a black CDR wrapped in fur with moss inside the lyric sheet.
Diadem of 12 Stars was their first studio album. It was recorded by Tim Green at Louder Studios in San Francisco.
Their next release was Two Hunters (2007). Many people outside of the metal scene took note of the record’s unique sound that pushed well beyond the traditional confines of Black Metal
. Two Hunters was the first time the band worked with producer Randall Dunn, who has produced all their subsequent releases. During the Two Hunters sessions, the band began to work with analog synthesizers, which has become a crucial feature in the band’s sound.
Black Cascade was released in Spring of 2008. After the release of Black Cascade, the band began a period with touring in the United States
and Europe
.
The band has announced that a new record, titled "Celestial Lineage", has been completed and was to have been released on September 13, 2011. According to a press statement on the band's website:
“The new record expands into a more expansive and visionary territory. The band’s trademark long-form approach to arrangement remains intact, but there is a stronger thread of Popul Vuh
-inspired underworld synthscapes and star-lit pulse woven with the intertwining guitar figures.”
The same press release states that the new record is the final album in a trilogy that began with Two Hunters. It is also the final record to be recorded at Randall Dunn’s Aleph studio.
WITTR were picked by Godspeed You! Black Emperor
for the 2011 All Tomorrow’s Parties festival in Minehead, UK
.
The band is well-known for their interests that lie beyond the usual topics of black metal, such as radical ecology, bio-dynamic farming and creating a nature-based occult worldview.
Unlike most modern metal bands, Wolves in the Throne Room always use vintage amplifiers and recording equipment. They mentioned in one interview that they despise modern recording techniques such as looping and drum triggers.
The band hates moshing and violence at their shows because they see their music as meditative rather than aggressive. Aaron Weaver has stated that he wants people to “lay on the floor and cry.”
They have said that starting in 2010 they will tour with their own public address system so they won’t be forced to play at traditional venues. They have often advocated a do-it-yourself approach to music.
Black metal
Black metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. Common traits include fast tempos, shrieked vocals, highly distorted guitars played with tremolo picking, blast beat drumming, raw recording, and unconventional song structure....
band based in Olympia, Washington
Olympia, Washington
Olympia is the capital city of the U.S. state of Washington and the county seat of Thurston County. It was incorporated on January 28, 1859. The population was 46,478 at the 2010 census...
.
Their sound is influenced by Scandinavian black metal
Black metal
Black metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. Common traits include fast tempos, shrieked vocals, highly distorted guitars played with tremolo picking, blast beat drumming, raw recording, and unconventional song structure....
, doom metal
Doom metal
Doom metal is an extreme form of heavy metal music that typically uses slower tempos, low-tuned guitars and a much "thicker" or "heavier" sound than other metal genres...
, dark ambient
Dark ambient
Dark ambient is a subgenre of ambient music that features foreboding, ominous, or discordant overtones. Although it had its roots in the 1970s, Dark ambient emerged in the 1980s and 1990s with the introduction of newer, smaller, and more affordable Effects units, synthesizer and sampling technology...
, crust punk
Crust punk
Crust punk is a form of music influenced by anarcho-punk, hardcore punk and extreme metal. The style, which evolved in the mid-1980s in England, often has songs with dark and pessimistic lyrics that linger on political and social ills...
, and folk music
Folk music
Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....
. WITTR has often cited American post-metal
Post-metal
Post-metal is a music genre, a mixture between the genres of post-rock and heavy metal.Hydra Head Records owner and Isis frontman Aaron Turner originally termed the genre "thinking man's metal", demonstrating that his band was trying to move away from common metal conventions...
band Neurosis
Neurosis (band)
Neurosis is a post-metal band, based in Oakland, California. They formed in 1985 as a hardcore punk band, and their sound progressed towards a doom metal style that also included influences from dark ambient and industrial music as well as incorporating elements of folk music...
as a key inspiration because their music "operates on a deep and intense mythic level." They have also mentioned synthesizer artists like Popol Vuh
Popol Vuh (German band)
Popol Vuh was a German electronic avantgarde band, in the mainstream-media so called Krautrock, founded by pianist and keyboardist Florian Fricke in 1969 together with Holger Trülzsch and Frank Fiedler...
as an influence.
According to the band, one of the founding concepts of WITTR is to channel the "energies" of the Pacific Northwest's landscape into musical form.
The band’s lyrics focus on themes of Apocalypse, transformation and modern society’s lost connection with the natural world.
History
The main members of Wolves in the Throne Room are brothers Aaron and Nathan Weaver. In an interview, Nathan Weaver says that he conceived the vision for the band and wrote the first two songs “Wolves in the Throne Room” and “Black Tea” at an Earth First!Earth First!
Earth First! is a radical environmental advocacy group that emerged in the Southwestern United States in 1979. It was co-founded on April 4th, 1980 by Dave Foreman, Mike Roselle, Howie Wolke, and less directly, Bart Koehler and Ron Kezar....
rendezvous in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest
Gifford Pinchot National Forest
Gifford Pinchot National Forest is a U.S. National Forest located in southern Washington, USA. With an area of 1.37 million acres , it extends 116 km along the western slopes of Cascade Range from Mount Rainier National Park to the Columbia River. It includes the 110,000 acre Mount St....
in 2002.
In 2004, the band moved to a dilapidated farmstead called Calliope. They have often stated that the creation of their farm-stronghold was linked to their early musical progression. Aaron Weaver’s wife Megan grows organic vegetables at Calliope. The band has expressed bemusement at the mythology that surrounds them, specifically regarding the band’s rural lifestyle. From an interview with Pitchfork:
"I'm sure that some people who meet us are disappointed that we don't dress in un-tanned hides and dwell in caves, while others are surprised that the farm... and our struggle to create a life that mirrors the energy of our music is quite real."
The band’s first release was their 2004 demo. The demo was a black CDR wrapped in fur with moss inside the lyric sheet.
Diadem of 12 Stars was their first studio album. It was recorded by Tim Green at Louder Studios in San Francisco.
Their next release was Two Hunters (2007). Many people outside of the metal scene took note of the record’s unique sound that pushed well beyond the traditional confines of Black Metal
Black metal
Black metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. Common traits include fast tempos, shrieked vocals, highly distorted guitars played with tremolo picking, blast beat drumming, raw recording, and unconventional song structure....
. Two Hunters was the first time the band worked with producer Randall Dunn, who has produced all their subsequent releases. During the Two Hunters sessions, the band began to work with analog synthesizers, which has become a crucial feature in the band’s sound.
Black Cascade was released in Spring of 2008. After the release of Black Cascade, the band began a period with touring in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
.
The band has announced that a new record, titled "Celestial Lineage", has been completed and was to have been released on September 13, 2011. According to a press statement on the band's website:
“The new record expands into a more expansive and visionary territory. The band’s trademark long-form approach to arrangement remains intact, but there is a stronger thread of Popul Vuh
Popol Vuh (German band)
Popol Vuh was a German electronic avantgarde band, in the mainstream-media so called Krautrock, founded by pianist and keyboardist Florian Fricke in 1969 together with Holger Trülzsch and Frank Fiedler...
-inspired underworld synthscapes and star-lit pulse woven with the intertwining guitar figures.”
The same press release states that the new record is the final album in a trilogy that began with Two Hunters. It is also the final record to be recorded at Randall Dunn’s Aleph studio.
WITTR were picked by Godspeed You! Black Emperor
Godspeed You! Black Emperor
Godspeed You! Black Emperor is a Canadian post-rock band which originated from Montreal, Quebec in 1994...
for the 2011 All Tomorrow’s Parties festival in Minehead, UK
Minehead
Minehead is a coastal town and civil parish in Somerset, England. It lies on the south bank of the Bristol Channel, north-west of the county town of Taunton, from the border with the county of Devon and in proximity of the Exmoor National Park...
.
Ideology and Sound
Wolves in the Throne Room has rejected most of the traditional elements of black metal such as corpse paint, pseudonyms and satanic imagery. Drummer Aaron Weaver has said "Wolves in the Throne Room is not black metal, or, more accurately we play black metal on our own terms, for our own reasons."The band is well-known for their interests that lie beyond the usual topics of black metal, such as radical ecology, bio-dynamic farming and creating a nature-based occult worldview.
Unlike most modern metal bands, Wolves in the Throne Room always use vintage amplifiers and recording equipment. They mentioned in one interview that they despise modern recording techniques such as looping and drum triggers.
Live Performance
Aaron Weaver has said in interviews that Wolves in the Throne Room is first and foremost a live band. This is unusual in the black metal scene, where studio projects abound. They are well known for performing outdoors or in venues that are lit only with firelight. They do not allow flash photography at their shows.The band hates moshing and violence at their shows because they see their music as meditative rather than aggressive. Aaron Weaver has stated that he wants people to “lay on the floor and cry.”
They have said that starting in 2010 they will tour with their own public address system so they won’t be forced to play at traditional venues. They have often advocated a do-it-yourself approach to music.
Session musicians
- Jamie Myers - clean vocals on Diadem of 12 Stars, Malevolent Grain
- Jessika Kenney - clean vocals on Two Hunters and Celestial Lineage
- Will Lindsay (MiddianMiddianMiddian was a doom metal band from Portland, Oregon, United States. The band comprised guitarist Mike Scheidt , bass guitarist/vocalist Will Lindsay, and drummer Scott Headrick. They released one album, titled Age Eternal.-Formation:...
)- bass on Live at Roadburn 2008 - Dino Sommese (DystopiaDystopia (band)Formed in Orange County, California in 1991, Dystopia was a sludge metal band, popular in both the heavy metal and crust punk scenes, due in large part to their bleak, misanthropic imagery...
, AsunderAsunder (band)Asunder was a notable funeral doom/death metal band that formed in 1998 in Oakland, California. Their dummer/vocalist, Dino Sommese, has also been a member of Ghoul, and Dystopia, as well as being a session musician for Wolves in the Throne Room. Guitarist John Gossard was also the guitarist and...
) - guest vocals - Ross Sewage (LudicraLudicraLudicra was a metal band from San Francisco. They originally formed in 1998 as a quartet and later expanded to five members. Ludicra's sound has been described as black metal or as avant-garde metal. Influences include bands such as Darkthrone, Gorgoroth, Dødheimsgard, and Bethlehem, and genres...
, ImpaledImpaled (band)Impaled is a death metal/goregrind band from Oakland, California.-History:The band's name is an acronym, standing for: Impaled - Immoral Medical Practitioners And Licentious Evil-Doers...
) - bass on 2008 tours - Oscar Sparbell (Christian Mistress) - bass on 2009 US and European tours
Former members
- Will Lindsay - guitar, backing vocals, bass on Black Cascade; guitar on Malevolent Grain
- Richard Dahlin - guitar on 2005 Demo, Diadem of 12 stars, Two Hunters
- Nick Paul - guitar on Wolves in the Throne Room
Studio albums
- 2006: Diadem of 12 StarsDiadem of 12 Stars-Line up:*Rick - Guitar, vocals*Nathan - Guitar, vocals*Aaron - drums-Guest vocalists:*Jamie Myers - Track 2*Dino Sommese - Tracks 1 & 3...
(Vendlus RecordsVendlus RecordsVendlus Records is an American independent record label currently based in Washington, DC. It was founded in 2002 by Joseph Cortese. Vendlus has an eclectic profile, releasing records in many genres, such as black metal, indie-pop, industrial, avant garde metal and electronica.-Artists:* Aerial...
) - 2007: Two HuntersTwo Hunters-Line up:*Rick Dahlen – Guitar, vocals*Nathan Weaver – Guitar, vocals*Aaron Weaver – drums-Production:*Wolves in the Throne Room – production*Randall Dunn – production, engineering, mixing*Mell Dettmer – engineering, mixing, mastering...
(Southern LordSouthern Lord RecordsSouthern Lord is an American record label that was founded in 1998 by Greg Anderson, specializing in what could broadly be classified as experimental heavy metal, particularly the doom metal, stoner rock, and drone metal sub-genres. Some of the more notable artists on the label include Earth, Om,...
) - 2009: Black CascadeBlack Cascade- Line-up :* Nathan Weaver - vocals, guitar* Will Lindsay - guitar, backing vocals, bass* Aaron Weaver - drums, synth...
(Southern Lord) - 2011: Celestial LineageCelestial Lineage- Line-up :* Nathan Weaver - vocals, guitar* Aaron Weaver - drums, synth* Jessika Kenney - clean vocals* The album also includes orations from Aaron Turner .- External links :* *...
(Southern Lord)
Demos
- 2004: Wolves in the Throne Room (Independent)
- 2005: Demo (Independent)
External links
- Wolves in the Throne Room at Southern Lord RecordsSouthern Lord RecordsSouthern Lord is an American record label that was founded in 1998 by Greg Anderson, specializing in what could broadly be classified as experimental heavy metal, particularly the doom metal, stoner rock, and drone metal sub-genres. Some of the more notable artists on the label include Earth, Om,...
- Official Site
- Wolves in the Throne Room discography at Encyclopaedia MetallumEncyclopaedia MetallumEncyclopaedia Metallum: The Metal Archives is a website which lists bands from various forms of heavy metal music...
Interviews
- Interview (2006) by Bradley Smith on Nocturnal Cult Magazine
- Interview (2007) by Brandon Stosuy on Pitchfork Media