DIADEM OF 12 STARS

Diadem of 12 Stars is the debut album from post metal/ black metal act Wolves in the Throne Room. Don´t make the mistake of thinking that this is a black metal album, as there are far more post metal tendencies here than black metal ditto.

The music altenates between fast, mid and slow paced parts. The pace is predominantly set by the drums while the guitars are mostly played in a slow majestic way. There are tremolo picking here and there but even when the drums play really fast the guitars are mostly slow. The music is melodic while the vocals are mostly harsh black metal screaming. There are some clean female vocals on Face in a Night Time Mirror, Part I though. That part reminds me of Maudlin of the Well. The guitars are very much in melodic post metal territory and I´m sometimes reminded of Pelican when they are most heavy ( add fast drumming though).

The songs are very long. Three of the four songs are about 12-13 minutes long while the last song (A Shimmering Radiance) Diadem of 12 Stars is over 20 minutes long. The music is very atmospheric and at times beautiful. This is a bit of an achivement as there are only guitars, drums and vocals to make the grand sound.

The production is deliberately lo-fi and even though I wouldn´t ordinarely enjoy such a primitive production I must admit that it suits the music perfectly.

The musicianship seems to be allright but the drumming isn´t very tight but again the muddy production and the stripped down approach suits the music well.

I have had a positive experience listening to Diadem of 12 Stars. I wasn´t expecting to like this but actually found the album quite charming in it´s own primitive way. It touches excellent a few times along the way but overall my rating will be 3 stars. This one is highly recommended to post metal fans who would like to hear something a bit different. Don´t get scared away by the black metal parts as they are not that harsh. You can´t compare this with real black metal. I think Wolves in the Throne Room are a very interesting band and I´ll be looking forward to listening to their next album.