Wolvennest - Temple (2021)^{Release ID: 26332}

If Belgian psychedelic black metal/ambient is too loose a description of a band for you then probably best read on elsewhere as there is little in the way of conformity in pretty much most of what Wolvennest do. Personally, I think the description I pulled from The Metal Archives is only one third true. Wolvennest are psychedelic but not in a trippy way like say Oranssi Pazuzu are. These Belgians leave no evidence of black metal on Temple to my ears, focussing instead on building soaring soundscapes that are laden with doom-like density and occult intensity. The only elements that link to black metal are the repetitive aspects of the songs and this is confined mostly to the beats.

With the shortest track still clocking in at a shade over six and a half minutes, they write like a doom band too. There is no requirement for the band to go off into the cruelty of black metal when they can build such atmospheric, ritualistic and decadent structures using little in the way of aggression to make Temple a mesmerising album to listen to in its entirety. With hazy guitars and keyboards lay prone throughout the hour and seventeen minutes run time of the album it is not difficult to conjure up imagery of smoky rooms with high ceilings and antique/retro furnishings in lodgings inhabited by dark and yet seemingly harmless dwellers. Over the top of these are the deliciously monotonous and hypnotising vocals of Sharon Shazzulu.

For an album that celebrates the darkness of its existence so openly there is very little in the way of threat in Wolvennest’s sound. Instead, it is an album that plays as a performance, delivered in an intimate and sensual environment. I find it to be a very calming and richly rewarding listen that delivers a real sense of texture on each spin. The only comparison I can think to draw on is Wolvserpent but here the likeness is more around the atmosphere since the Belgians are much more accessible in their style, deploying a cleanliness in their crisp and melodic leads that are able to permeate the at times dense fog that cloaks the record.

Temple feels personal and that exposure is done in an almost tantric fashion. The wonderful simplicity of the brilliantly titled (and written) All That Black is a real high point in the album. It is a track that has a sense of urgency yet also a matter-of-fact tone to its delivery at the same time. Wolvennest are patient storytellers it seems. Smart enough to know that these songs need that sense of mystique but that some driving rhythms and rock riffs are needed to really carve out that Wolvennest shaped niche to allow a real sense of balance to evolve across most tracks.

Shazzulu does not hog the whole vocal performance though. Check out the crude crooning on Succubus, where King Dude guest performs, utilising his dark folk style to perfection whilst the music ebbs and flows perfectly around his vocals to make for an enchanting experience. The other aspect to Temple that is an absolute triumph is the guitar work of Michael Kirby, Mark De Backer and Corvus von Burtle. You would think three guitarists would make for a heavy, almost cumbersome experience in fact, however their input is measured without them taking the front seat nor entirely being in the back either. I am not sure if they deploy three guitars on every track – the density of proceedings suggests so, but von Burtle does keyboards and bass to I recall – but they are without question an integral quality in the sound of Temple.

For a picky doom listener like myself it is odd that I stumbled across Temple, and it stuck so immediately. Even though it does go on a bit at times I still feel I learn more about it with each listen which is the sign of a good record.

Belgians Wolvennest's third album is not one for the impatient metal fan. It's eight tracks span 77 minutes, most in the nine to twelve minute range and the majority of the album is pretty slowly paced. This isn't an example of monolithic funeral doom however, but more of a ritualistic, cosmic incantation, drawing on elements of doom, drone, psychedelia and gothic rock for an hypnotic occult experience.

The vibe that the six-piece's music exudes is that of a cult or coven with vaguely sinister overtones in their conviction and devotion to whatever cosmic entity they revere and implore in their songs and to such end the album feels kind of threatening at times. Although most of the tracks are fairly repetitive in keeping with that ritualistic atmosphere, the separate songs are pretty diverse - Swear to Fire is heavily space rock infused and feels like a doom interpretation of a track from Oranssi Pazuzu's Mestarin kynsi album, Disappear could be from Sister of Mercy's Vision Thing, the menacing All That Black sounds like The Velvet Underground had released a long lost metal track and album closer Souffle De Mort ups the psychedelic ritualistic exhortations to finish the album on a disturbing, Manson-esque note (Charles not Marilyn!)

So despite the fact that a significant proportion of the tracks have that drone aesthetic, the album as a whole is exceedingly interesting and none of the individual songs are so long that they ever become boring. It is ultimately the kind of album to lose yourself in, but it never allows the listener to feel completely comfortable within it's embrace. A great example of how to make modern doom metal fresh and interesting with it's left-field take on the genre and it's embracing of diverse elements within it's grooves.