Ancestral Shadows (USA) – Wolven Mysteries Of Ancient Lore VIOLET LP

Black Metal

Although “Wolven Mysteries of Ancient Lore” is shorter; the lore, style and essence remain untouched, with a little variation in terms of the atmosphere, using some Dungeon Synth passages and interludes.
Production-wise is maybe a bit “dirtier” (so to speak) than its predecessors; vocals in here are more in the back-ground, resembling more to an echo rather than an actual voice, and function more as an complementary atmos-pheric element. Other than that, all the instruments are well differenciated and easy to isolate, but they also come as a whole. The harmony and consonance between all the songs is very solid.
Eight songs, half of them being instrumental interludes and the other half consisting of four long passages, which I am unable to highlight one of them. “Stronghold of the Black Abyss” is their most generic (with a good conno-tation obviously) in terms of style, with a remarkable second half; “Black Autumn Silence” is their most saddest and melancholic song to date, with more than half of it being instrumental and with feminine voices/chants (which has become a trademark of this band since day 1) and griefing riffs. The homonymous song if the most complex of them four, with a Dungeon Synth bridge functioning as a tempo changer.
“Wolven Mysteries of Ancient Lore” is another highly remarkable piece of Black Metal by the New Hampshire fellas. Captivating, full of identity and atmospheric melancholy.