Wolves Den - Miserere

This week has been so rich in reviewing old friends. Today’s subject is Wolven Den with “Miserere” their new effort following their 2017’s “Deus Vult” which was very well received here. “Miserere” deepens the band’s formula of adding lots of melodic features and some religious inspired chorus and chants. Wolves Den prove that what was good can get even better. Instead of weaking and sugaring their music as some critics advocate, the melodies and chants added here make the music even more powerful due to the emotional content they bring. The constrast between them and the raspy and sometimes shrieking voice is the staple of the band. Here it gets even better. Vocalist Helge Stang does a pretty dang job here with the guitar duo Mexx and Stefan Botz unlike their peers that somehow are trying to banish guitar solos from Metal music.

The first highlight goes to the last, but not least track, “Nameless Grave” and its seven minutes of pure black delight. Evil beauty as some say. The chorus in it sparks the attention of the fan with melancholy and power. A great grand finale to an album that came to conquer. The double bass drumming also catches the fan by its quality and force. By the way, it’s rare to say anything about bassists, but now I have to say a few lines about the lines Helge Stang wrote. In the middle of such a musical chaos his lines are audible and clear and they work pretty fine. Opening track “Tides of Hate” comes with a martial drumming and mood. The contrasts are clear here in this track. Wolves Den prepared the way to show how ambitious they are on this new album. A great intro to the album because it gives a clear view of what it is to come. Inbetween, “Miserere” adds some more melodic features to enrich the contrasts as they are in real life. Grief, sadness, melancholy are all emotions that are a relevant part of life. Instead of denying them, Wolves Den give them a place of honor and built up an album full of references to catch the fan attention and heart. Interesting fact is that the band decided to divide their lyrics into English and German. As a matter of fact, more German. Black Metal in German works as hell, if you ask me. Who says Black Metal has to be cold as steel?

Wolven Den “Miserere” will be released on May 15th via Trollzorn.

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