Rarely in recent years has a black metal record come as highly anticipated as ‘The Wild Hunt’. With ‘Lawless Darkness’, their 2010 album, Watain received accolades from the famously tight-knit black metal community, and also praise from many in the wider metal scene.
Add in their reputation for seriously intense (and bloody) live shows and you get the first proper black metal band in many a year who look like they could seriously break through into something approaching the metal mainstream, corpse paint and all.
All this means, of course, that ‘The Wild Hunt’ is a big moment in Watain’s career. Not that you would know it from the opening stages. Night Vision is a superbly atmospheric instrumental opener, and it is followed by De Profundis, which has the phrase “statement of intent” written all over it.
It’s fantastically heavy, gloriously melodic and suitably draining. In a sense it’s a summary of everything Watain have become in recent years. Where they once were stuttering in the wake of their many influences, they now have enough of their own character to deserve real credit.
Similarly successful are the next three tracks. All are high-tempo masterclasses in how to write a genuinely thrilling metal song. Huge debts are owed admittedly, but what stands out now is how far Watain have blended their black metal influences, from classic Scandinavian bands like Darkthrone and Marduk, with those from other subgenres of metal. There are hints both of melodic death metal (more At the Gates than Dark Tranquillity) and thrash (Death Angel and Slayer) throughout all three of these early pace-setters.
Things get a bit more “epic” on They Rode On, an eight minute track that features plenty of clean singing from frontman Erik Danielsson alongside some softer instrumental work. In fact, it’s not a million miles away from an ‘80s Metallica ballad at points. It should be the album’s centrepiece, but instead it appears to suck some steam from proceedings, with the following song, Sleepless Evil, coming off as sub-par compared to the earlier heavy tracks.
In fact They Rode On marks something of a turning point for ‘The Wild Hunt’. While there’s nothing objectionably wrong with the album’s second half, at 62 minutes it’s seriously long and attempts at a more varied pace late on make the album drag where it should soar. What makes Watain so exhilarating at their best is not abandoned by any stretch of the imagination, but it isn’t enhanced either, with the first half being noticeably more engaging.
‘The Wild Hunt’ only just fails to come good on all its promise. This is a far better than average black metal record, and its creators will fully deserve wider success if it comes their way as a result. Theirs is a formula that has been skilfully honed over time, and this album demonstrates that with great aplomb. It’s just a shame that, as a full-length listen, ‘The Wild Hunt’ becomes progressively harder work over the course of its, slightly too “epic”, duration. Nevertheless, this remains essential listening for any fan of extreme metal.
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