Primordial Arcana (Ltd. CD Mediabook)＜完全生産限定盤＞

独特な存在感を放つブラックメタル界の魔術師=WOLVES IN THE THRONE ROOM(ウルヴス・イン・ザ・スローン・ルーム)の7thアルバム『Primordial Arcana』

ブラックメタル界の魔術師たちとしての旅をはじめて約20年、WOLVES IN THE THRONE ROOM(ウルヴス・イン・ザ・スローン・ルーム)はこれまでで最もドラマティックで壮大な作品を携えて再び森から姿を現した。2002年に米国ワシントン州で結成されたWOLVES IN THE THRONE ROOMは、2006年のデビュー作『Diadem of 12 Stars』から悪魔崇拝といったテーマを超越した作品を発表しブラックメタル界の異端的な存在として君臨している。2021年8月、自然の中で自給自足を目指した生活を送りながらバンド活動を続けている彼らが決定的な1枚となる『Primordial Arcana』を発表する。「俺たちの音楽の原動力は、山や川、太陽と月、植物、動物に宿る精霊たちを呼び起こすこと。これらの精霊は古代から我々と共にあったが、現代社会ではその声はかき消されてしまっているんだ」とAaron Weaverが語るように、WOLVES IN THE THRONE ROOMは文明社会を否定し、大自然への畏敬の念を感じさせる神秘的な作風とリリースを重ねる度にスケール感を増し、確実な成長を遂げることで多くのファンを虜にしてきた。『Primordial Arcana』はWeaver兄弟とギタリストのKody Keyworthが、自らの手で建設したワシントン州の森の中にあるスタジオOwl Lodge Studiosで、作曲、演奏、レコーディング、プロデュース、ミキシングまでの全工程を行ったバンドにとっては念願ともいえる初の自己完結作品である。魔法と夢の世界への入り口となる(1)「Mountain Magick」のMVがリリースに先駆けて公開されると、早くもファンから復帰を歓迎する声が上がっている。山の上の澄んだ空気のように、少し冷たく、鋭く、精神世界に近く、人間の領域から離れた異空間が表現された圧倒的な仕上がりを誇る楽曲だ。
自らの視点、進む道に対して一切の妥協、譲歩をしないためDIY精神を持ち、3人でクリエイティブな側面もコントロールし、磨き上げている稀有な存在WOLVES IN THE THRONE ROOMは己が望むサウンド、本質を完璧に表現する作品を完成させた。

Since releasing 2006s now-classic Diadem of 12 Stars, Olympia, Washingtons Wolves in the Throne Room, led by brothers Nathan and Aaron Weaver, have continually thwarted expectations. They release new music only when they have something genuinely new to offer. They experiment with textures, instrumentation, and vocals, sometimes radically as on Celestite, the electronic ambient companion to 2011s Celestial Lineage. In the four-year gap between 2017s Thrice Woven and Primordial Arcana, they built their own Owl Lodge Studios to record their first self-contained album; it was written, recorded, produced, and mixed by the trio -- WITTR has also made singer and guitarist Kody Keyworth a full contributing writer and production partner. The only other participants here are guest bassist Galen Baudhuin (Infera Bruo) and multi-instrumentalist Yianna Bekris, of one-woman black metal project Vouna, who contributes to two tracks. Musically, Primordial Arcana sits dead center between the texturally expansive Celestial Lineage and the Cascadian black metal of Thrice Woven. There are ingloriously buzzing guitars, blastbeats, melodic pianos, hovering synths, growling vocals, truly symphonic atmospherics, and field recordings. The album meets the bands criteria for presenting the dramatic alongside the dynamic, yet exceeds them both with its most sophisticated set of melodies. Opener Mountain Magick commences with an occult vibe as the sounds of scurrying animals, droning synths, and field-recorded ephemera are met by raging drums and squalling guitars less than a minute in. Nathan Weavers growled vocals meet the thunderous drums head-on. A mesmerizing single-string guitar break adds majesty to the menace as the tune shifts, only to re-emerge at twice the intensity. Spirit of Lightning develops more slowly. A circular, fragile guitar vamp hovers atop waltz-time drums, echo-laden vocals, chimes, and bells until the two-minute mark. Nathans vocal claims the center and Aarons quadra-timed blastbeats threaten to overcome the labyrinthine melody but dont succeed. Primal Chasm (Gift of Fire) begins in creepy abstraction with low-end hiss and a droning horn sound before shifting into gear. The tempo accelerates with layered guitar riffs and a buzzing bassline. Nathans roar becomes the hub as the music cascades around him, until the tune explodes harmonically. Masters of Rain and Storm, at over ten minutes, is the sets centerpiece, overflowing with dark, ritualistic, nearly monstrous heaviness. It is episodic, almost suite-like as black and death metal entwine, shifting and alternating their emphases amid layered atmospheres that nearly engulf the mix while they swirl around Nathans vocals in a struggle for dominance. Bekris acoustic guitar introduces a particularly poignant, nearly Baroque interlude before it all turns back on and nearly swallows itself. Primordial Arcana closes with Eostre and Skyclad Passage, two nearly ambient experimental tracks that, when taken together, add a haunted ceremonial ethereality full of keyboards and nature sounds. As a whole, the album doesnt provide a lot sonically that fans havent heard before, but it doesnt need to because WITTR have created their most uneasy balance of brute force, massive power, and brooding, trepidatious calm to date. ~ Thom Jurek