... is gonna suck?

I actually found this song rather impressive, the atmosphere it conjures up is masterfully done.

This basically what Varg has been aiming at with Sol austan, Mani vestan and The Ways of Yore. But unlike Varg, Wolves actually made something stellar.

I'm really excited now for the full thing, if all songs are of this quality, it will be great.

stoked even though i haven't heard their last 2 albums. Two Hunters and 12 stars are great though

...what is happening O8

[http://www.sharegif.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/4-Finding-Nemo-quotes.gif

what is this i dont even

this is certainly better than anything theyve done in recent memory. way more berlin school influenced than i thought they would dare to go, but its not bad.

the second half is much better than the first half. too bad for them other artists do this kind of thing much better.

never heard these guys didn't know they were ambient

Enjoyed the track a lot. Pre-orders are up but I won't be getting it until they lower the shipping ($11.25, seriously?)

Just this album.

First few albums are Cascadian bm.

"never heard these guys didn't know they were ambient"

can't tell if serious.

this is great. love it

Really nice stuff.

Reminds me of Cassandra Gemini's breakdown halfway through

wow, another band that went from good to boring as fuck, who needs the onehundredthousandth ambient band? They were black metal and are now pussing out...

"pussing out"

at least they're gonna try something different. I heard their last 2 albums were just more of the same

Because there's definitely a lot more ambient artists than there are black metal bands..

honestly as long as it's good who cares if it's bm, ambient, or a mix of both

but this is not good, it is uninspired and boring.

@Atari
Yeh Neurosis fans would highly appreciate if their next album is "Dance Pop", at least they would have tried something different then...

Neurosis fans would eat up anything the band does at this point, so yeah, they probs would

lol, quite the extreme example. I haven't even heard the track, all I meant was there's nothing wrong with a band changing directions like that if done correctly (take Ulver for example)

This is a pretty logical move for the band. Anyone who says otherwise, well, is dumb

"can't tell if serious."

;)

agreed spirit

I hope this is on par with Two Hunters.
Gonna have to check this in a little bit.

The band has mentioned more than once that this is merely an excursion and that they intend to go back to black metal at some point. But i enjoy pretty much all the bands material so im easy either way

i dig this, hope there is some BM tho...

Pretty sure there isnt

@Atari

We sadly disagree once more Ulver made one good CD and that was their first one, after that it went downhill faster than the speed of light.

And I do NOT appreciate if a band changes the direction COMPLETELY, I am a fan of a band for a reason, because I like the music style and not becuase I think the drum player has nice hair. It is ok that they alter their style a bit, that is what I call evolving.

But if I buy the next AmenRA CD I expect "Post-metal" and if i buy the next Grimes CD I expect "electronic witchery".

If Grimes suddenly would do Pop-Punk and AmenRA would do djent, they both should do this under different names, otherwise I call this selling out or treating the fans like shit.

You're making it so drastic; ambiance has always played a pivotal part in WITTR's sound, so the "change" is pretty seamless.

I disgree, they were a cascading black metal band with a few ambient parts. Overall they were BM and nothing else.

As the new CD will be exactly like that one track (according to the band), it has NOTHING to do with metal at all, it cannot get more drastical, the change of a music style, for me they can go to hell now. I do not need boring ambient music.

People who like ambient music will probably appreciate this, but they are not the target audience of a BM band.

yeah dude this is what wolves have always sounded like just without blasts and screams. this barely a
musical excursion.

as a wittr fan, i think this is great.

yeh just that blasts and screams were 95% of their music...

"People who like ambient music will probably appreciate this, but they are not the target audience of a BM band."

Anyone who knows about BM and the history of its artists/culture, knows how intertwined the two genres are. Black metal in ways, is a stepping-stone to ambient, so I really don't think most WITTR fans will mind, or will at least won't immediately write it off before giving it a chance.

Not to mention this is a total WIITR kind of move

it is a HUGE difference to have a few ambient parts in their sound, almost every band has this (Neurosis, AMenRa), but this is a completely change of music style.
No guitars, no drums, no singing...

i'm amused at how shocked people are by the supposed change on this, As if it's a massive and unusual thing.



Burzum anyone!?!?!?!?!?

almost every band has this (Neurosis, AMenRa)

Neurosis and AmenRa also use ambient sounscapes as a layer to their music, maybe you should relisten to those bands. But to make a boring uninspired electronic CD is a completely different thing, like that has not been done thousands of times better before.

Shweet

really enjoying the new track, listened to it 3 times now.

Lol this thread!

Sweet tune, though.

lol stalagtite + celestial = celestite

brutal album name

but i liked celestial lineage so will check

pretty good first half was kinda boring though

I really didn't like this. As much as I love WITTR I'll probably pass on this album

lol at Amebix

lol at the butt hurt.

sounds pretty fuckin sweet to me. prefer this than another celestial lineage, which was meh..

wow amebix is full retard

Amebix dudee chill brah if you dont like it fine but stop pretending like this is such a departure from what wittr have done, I mean just listen to behold the vastness and sorrow or cleansing and tell me most of those songs aren't made up of ambient

wittr have literally always been lumped in with the atmospheric bm bands anyways so he's fucking kidding himself

Seriously if you're craving black metal go jam one of their other four albums. They're all worthwhile and the first two are excellent. I rather enjoyed this, and it makes sense considering the band's MO of channeling-the-essence-of-the-forest themes.

"Neurosis and AmenRa also use ambient sounscapes as a layer to their music, maybe you should relisten to those bands. But to make a boring uninspired electronic CD is a completely different thing, like that has not been done thousands of times better before."

How do you know the album is boring? Already making assumptions and blaming the band for your inability to enjoy anything that doesn't have guitars and drums.

Can't wait to hear this song btw, I've been quietly anticipating this album, have a feeling it will rule.

Already making assumptions and blaming the band for your inability to enjoy anything that doesn't have guitars and drums.

no growls = no music...face it!

and anyone who argues with amebix henceforth deserves to be banned

in the face

Spacey wow.

I feel like I have 10 artists who already make this music so I guess I'll pass on this album

"We sadly disagree once more Ulver made one good CD and that was their first one, after that it went
downhill faster than the speed of light."

I would have disagreed with you there because nothing travels faster than the speed of light
(excluding expansion/stretching of space and hypothetical particles i.e. in terms of something moving
in a vacuum) but one exception that does is useless, shortlived information so congratulations

lol so hard

So.......black metal? I think this track could use some more blast beats.

Yeah hopefully their next album has lots of them. And doesn't sound like Celestial Lineage.

well i dont know shit about this genre but my ears liked it so

It was fun

this thread was a pleasure to go through with the ambiance of the track punctuating some of the funnier comments.

meh, it was alright. nothing worth bitching about, especially since they'll return to BM soon enough after this comes out. the song's generally pleasant sounding, but it never goes anywhere particularly interesting. still better than their last two LPs, though.

Not familiar with these guys. I really love this though. Maybe I like it because I don't have that hindsight bias like all of you.

I actually like this.

Fuck that track was good. Everything I was expecting and more

great track. really looking forward for this

Me too, I was hesitant when they announced what they planned to do, but after hearing this, I have full faith they'll succeed.

I turned this on and actually forgot I was listening to it a couple times.

Am I wrong, or did I read that this album was formed from the buried in the mix ambient sections of Celestial Lineage? Like the tracks from this new album were actually on that record? You just couldn't really make them out with the black metal on top. I could be way off, but parts of that song do sound familiar.

This rules. Opening bit reminds me of H.U.V.A Network or something. Dig all their stuff - and honestly, they make music for themselves, so who cares what they do? You either like it or you don't right..

Fucking awesome track.

They can do no wrong.

yeah it rules. wasnt expecting those doomy guitars in the second half. album will be great no doubt, might be better than celestial and maybe cascade

I disgree, they were a cascading black metal band with a few ambient parts. Overall they were BM and nothing else.

As the new CD will be exactly like that one track (according to the band), it has NOTHING to do with metal at all, it cannot get more drastical, the change of a music style, for me they can go to hell now. I do not need boring ambient music.

People who like ambient music will probably appreciate this, but they are not the target audience of a BM band.

You couldn't be any more wrong on this subject. Atmospheric bm and ambient parallel each in other in so many ways it's not ever funny. When bm bands go on those elongated runs of single tremolo runs, doesn't it ever sound like pressing down a key with a ton of reverb backing it up? Both types of compositions are vast in their execution.

As for target audience, a majority of these atmospheric bm bands attract a shit ton of hipsters for the same reasons I've stated above. Have you ever listened to Burzum in your life dude? Ask most bm fans which Burzum album they love the most and a majority of them will tell you Hvis lyset tar oss and Filosofem. These are some of Vargs most trance inducing albums; very much like what ambient music is supposed to do to you and not to mention both albums are book-ended by ambient tracks. So now that you've been schooled (and I can continue if you would like), do you now see why ambient and bm go hand in hand?

Word up Wiz

"otherwise I call this selling out or treating the fans like shit."

Or, you know, just making whatever you want to make.

Wiz is going strong

that dude Amebix is very dumb and immature. he's also very ignorant and has a strong lack of self awareness.

5.0 classic
Agalloch The Serpent and the Sphere
This will be remembered as their Magnum Opus, in a few years this will be the reference for blackened folk metal. It is just too much to handle for the standard black metal jerks!

Wiz schooling fools, love it m/

"You couldn't be any more wrong on this subject. Atmospheric bm and ambient parallel each in other in so many ways it's not ever funny. When bm bands go on those elongated runs of single tremolo runs, doesn't it ever sound like pressing down a key with a ton of reverb backing it up? Both types of compositions are vast in their execution. As for target audience, a majority of these atmospheric bm bands attract a shit ton of hipsters for the same reasons I've stated above. Have you ever listened to Burzum in your life dude? Ask most bm fans which Burzum album they love the most and a majority of them will tell you Hvis lyset tar oss and Filosofem. These are some of Vargs most trance inducing albums; very much like what ambient music is supposed to do to you and not to mention both albums are book-ended by ambient tracks. So now that you've been schooled (and I can continue if you would like), do you now see why ambient and bm go hand in hand?"



First, Burzum is a piece of NAZI shit, so it has no value what music he ever made or will make. People supporting him are supporting facism and people who support facism are assholes.

Second, yes there are "some" black metal bands who put some ambient parts into their music, but this is a whole different thing than to make a complete ambient album, if I want ambient, then I buy early Tangerine Dream or Klaus Schulze, they at least know how to do such music.

Third, the vast majority of Black Metal bands really have nothing to do with any kind of ambient music. I am pretty sure you know bands like Emperor, Darkthrone,Immortal, Mayhem, Gorgoroth, God Seed and so on.

vast majority of bm

names almost exclusively second-wave norwegian bm

I saw Wolves live (in a parking lot by candlelight under a full moon, no less) and it was so...meditative. Everyone was quiet and let the music wash over them. It could have been My Bloody Valentine playing. It could have been nobody playing, just a gathering of prayer at the altar of all things natural and mysterious. Really an amazing experience.

If anyone argues that this is a new direction, they should listen to "Dea Artio" a few more times.

yeah i saw them play behind some warehouse, was p sweet

"ust a gathering of prayer at the altar of all things natural and mysterious"

hippy dippy bullshit

would be cool tho

Totally hippy dippy but Wolves is legit when it comes to treehugging. They live on their own sustainable farm and all that jazz.

haha yeah its cool I'm just a hater

Still waiting on that Blood Mountain review.

"First, Burzum is a piece of NAZI shit, so it has no value what music he ever made or will make. People supporting him are supporting facism and people who support facism are assholes."

Nah. You can be racist and right wing and still produce music with artistic value. For example, Arghoslent. It's all just part of the art.

Dangit Amebix why you have to fanboyrage all the time.

"Third, the vast majority of Black Metal bands really have nothing to do with any kind of ambient music. I am pretty sure you know bands like Emperor, Darkthrone,Immortal, Mayhem, Gorgoroth, God Seed and so on."

I've concluded you have to be a troll, because nobody could ever be this dumb

I'm starting to believe that as well.

I mean he mentioned Emperor, a symphonic black metal band. Does that even compute Amebix?

"First, Burzum is a piece of NAZI shit, so it has no value what music he ever made or will make."


Statements like that are bad for your metal cred, just so you know.

Second, yes there are "some" black metal bands who put some ambient parts into their music, but
this is a whole different thing than to make a complete ambient album

Its an experiment, band tend to do this some times. Its much more logical for Wolves to write an
Ambient album, than it was for Agalloch to write a neo-folk one. And I hear no one complaining about
that.

"Third, the vast majority of Black Metal bands really have nothing to do with any kind of ambient
music.

Oh boy, how much Black metal have you heard in you life? I have a feeling its not that much..

The connection between black metal and ambient should be abundantly clear.

"I mean he mentioned Emperor, a symphonic black metal band. Does that even compute Amebix? "

Umm, Emperor are a progressive BM band and are using keyboards but that has NOTHING to do with being ambient, or do you call a Metalcore band using keyboards ambient?

And the list of BM bands that have nothing to do with ambient music is almost endless but you did not expect me to write them all down, eh?

Someone clearly doesn't listen to ambient metalcore.

but then again the list of bands who have ambient stylings could be equally endless. Let alone the amount of bands who have also released ambient only albums over the course of their career.

Burzum
Dolentia
Grimorc
Paysage D'hiver
Tomhet
Ulver

a few names that sprung to mind straight away, all bm bands that have released full ambient albums or in the case of Ulver, have evolved into a fully ambient electronic band.

Hey guys, I hear Wolves in the Throne room are about to release an ambient album. That should be
pretty cool and help underscore the parallels between black metal and ambient.

Just have to listen to Paysage D'hiver or Darkspace, and see how they straddle the line between the two genres, to get an idea of how they are parallel. Seriously, if you've listened to enough black metal you'd be able to see it. They're my 2 favorite genres for a reason. They have the same goals (ie: evoke atmosphere through ambiance [!] ) and repetition, but just diverge on how they achieve that goal.

That's a really good summation, Keyblade. Never thought of it like that.

Many BM bands use lo-fi production to create walls-of-noise and evoke certain atmospheres. Using walls of static with barely-perceptible melodic layering (or percussion, vocals, etc.) sounds very ambient-esque to me.

Why has nobody mentioned the fact that there is a black metal subgenre SPECIFICALLY named 'ambient black metal'

I thought it was 'atmospheric black metal'

not possible to have ambient metal

nah two different things (closely related obv). ive always thought of ambient bm as stuff like paysage and darkspace:
essentially ambient music played through black metal. barely any distinction between the drums, guitars, vocals, and
synths...just a wall of sound that happens to have shrieks and blastbeats. whereas atmospheric bm is stuff like wolves,
drudkh, panopticon etc: black metal that creates an atmosphere through lots of delay, reverb, keys, etc

well yeah, but it's all just a mix and the term confucked my mind

hm, thought it was a fairly common term. i guess it falls under "atmospheric black metal" regardless

no more new genres to further promote lazy descriptions

NEEDS MOAR SUBSUBSUBGENRES

As if I just read through this whole thing. I think I may have lost a brain cell or two in the process (I'd ask Amebix to give them back but doesn't look like he can spare any).

Anyway, the track is cool. I was starting to worry a bit but then it morphed into that droney kind of sound and overall I'm looking forward to the album.

But seriously if they want anyone to buy the LP they're gonna have to do something about that shipping cost

"no more new genres to further promote lazy descriptions"

This so much. Vocabulary is a thing. The constant arguing over genres is the most frustrating thing on Sputnik.

yea but you sometimes don't know your genres pedro

I bought it with shipping to the uk, 47 US dollars poorer as a result which i think worked at just un 30 pounds. The shipping cost was pretty much the se as the cost of the lp. Im assuming from the comments on here even the shipping for north america is extortionate?

Yeah the shipping is too expensive, I'm waiting for a distro to hopefully sell it

Shipping to Canada was something like 19.50 if I remember correctly. So yeah, not a huge enough fan of these guys to take that big a gamble on a pre order

Even shipping within America is $11.50 alone, which makes no sense to me unless it's priority shipping but even so the price is steep

@Relinquished - I really shouldn't argue that point, but I also don't really care about genre labels.
People getting pissed off about Wolves not being "true" black metal because whatever reasons, is Isis
sludge metal, who cares if Ulcerate is tech death or post-death, people threw shit at Cynic for using
vocoders on their Focus tour...it just gets old.

This thread was somewhat fun to read lol

I mean, I do care. It's nice to have an easy reference like "dude, this is Cascadian black metal" and
you immediately know that it's up your alley or "it's deathcore" and just fuck off. K I'm done thx.

And that right there is why people obsess over endless genre classifications ^^

It's dumb to get mad if someone classifies a band as a slightly different genre then you think they are though

Umm, Emperor are a progressive BM band and are using keyboards but that has NOTHING to do with being ambient, or do you call a Metalcore band using keyboards ambient?

And the list of BM bands that have nothing to do with ambient music is almost endless but you did not expect me to write them all down, eh?

Ignorance is bliss I guess.

Just have to listen to Paysage D'hiver or Darkspace, and see how they straddle the line between the two genres, to get an idea of how they are parallel. Seriously, if you've listened to enough black metal you'd be able to see it. They're my 2 favorite genres for a reason. They have the same goals (ie: evoke atmosphere through ambiance [!] ) and repetition, but just diverge on how they achieve that goal.

Just listen to Keyblade Amebix. He just stole the words out of my mouth. Please just listen to more bm and come back when you're ready or do I have to post my bm list yet again to settle this argument once and for all?

at this point in music history many bands are playing music with blurred stylings. but in some cases,
if the elements considered for the classification within a genre are clearly missing, then shit I
have all the reason to blast your ass for calling [insert band] [insert misappropriated genre label].

like it all matters though

"Yeh Neurosis fans would highly appreciate if their next album is "Dance Pop", at least they would have tried something different then…"

A dance pop Neurosis album would honestly probably rule.

Fantastic.

"A dance pop Neurosis album would honestly probably rule."

If it turned out like J-pop death metal I would be pretty happy.

Devin Townsend did a pop metal album. Don't see why Neurosis couldn't do a dance pop album.

they could but they won't

Post-disco

Blackened disco with ambient interludes?

^Amebix will hate that after one song, then call it "a boring uninspired electronic CD"

I'd listen the hell out of that. New Todd Terje is instrumental disco and it rules, so I'm sure I'd like some dark ambient blackend disko m/

Well, dip my balls in marinara and call me Italian Cuisine... this is actually pretty good!

^Amebix will hate that after one song, then call it "a boring uninspired electronic CD"

I just saw some of his ratings (which he rated Nachtmystium quite high) and I believe they pulled a blackened disco song off already called "No Funeral". Even this reviewer talks about the track in particular:

http://www.sputnikmusic.com/review/37470/Nachtmystium-Addicts%3A-Black-Meddle-Pt.-2/

My conclusion; Amebix knows fuck all or is the worlds greatest troll. Lets all vote on what one he is....go!

*Knows fuck all

*Knows fuck all [2]

not claiming to be a bm expert myself by any means, but the dude clearly smacks of "i've listened to like 20 bm albums, so i know my shit!"

yeah but why the fuck are y'all even arguing with him when everyone knows he doesn't know

oooooh will have to check this out. this is one of my most anticipated releases of 2014. m/

You mean 20 BM albums isn't a lot? D8

Not really considering how large and diverse the genre is

pedro was being sarcastic

People on the internet sarcastic? Never! :O

@Wizard I'm listening to that song now, I'm really enjoying it lol

the album is better than you'd expect, it's quite nice actually and very cohesive

Don't tease my Crysis ;_;

all i'm allowed to reveal is that it's full of deep, heavy crystalline synthesizer journeying, Eno-inspired analog processing and arcane acoustic instrumentation

nice soundoff

don't be jelly that you can't be entranced by the bleep bloop

crysis does it contain robed figures dwelling below a mossy palace

crysis don't be mean bb cuz ur beautifully privileged

Yeah don't be a dick be a dude.

Eno-inspired analog processing and arcane acoustic instrumentation

i'm down for that

That's just a fancy way of saying they used 1960's recording equipment.

Damn if crysis likes it, it has to be good.