wolvennest

Mini-Feature: Wolvennest Enters the "Void" on Haunting New EP

wolvennest

Repetition in music can be a divisive quality. If it wasn’t, then there wouldn’t be nearly 12 million views on a YouTube video that removes all duplicate words in Lil Pump’s landmark single “Gucci Gang,” whittling the two-minute track down to just 40 seconds. While such a snarky measure proves a point, it glosses over the fact that the rinse/repeat model breeds a bang-factor that isn’t just limited to trap hits. While we can debate what constitutes musicality all day, Belgium’s Wolvennest cuts straight to the chase: as a venture that describes itself as “proposing a compositional process of guitar loops, repetitive beats, synthesizers,” and more, Wolvennest embraces a hypnotic reverb that cuts right through you. Given their recent successes, their formula is proving effective.

While the 1970s vibe of this sextet is doubtlessly definitive, last year’s full-length Void isn’t your feather’s ditchweed. Cut with something a bit more menacing, the pulsing grips of opener “Sailure” lures you in before hitting you with a riff that’s a bit too charming. Rhythm sections are largely the anchors against which experimental synthesizer may grow. While having a solid base can be associated with controlled chaos, Wolvennest’s underlying consistency fosters the paranoia of a high that has slipped into another corner of consciousness. Vocals largely remain clean but still raise goosebumps as they conjure spells heard from deep within forbidden woods. Together, these facets achieve a deceptively ambitious composition.

This month’s solid three-track follow-up Vortex suggests that there may be a running motif in the chapters of Wolvennest. Nevertheless, chronological concerns are forgone for the immediate all-engulfing power of sensory stimulation. The title track is an emboldened interpretation of modern psychedelic metal, achieving an aesthetic that reads as catharsis as much as it does atmosphere. And while the key instrumental themes of the album do not largely deviate, there is no shortage of decadent deviance — this method-to-the-madness has allowed Wolvennest to take their spirit journey on the road in major ways. On the heels of performing at Roadburn, the troupe anticipates opening for Electric Wizard in Paris on May 31st.

If eating macaroons with the Wizard isn’t a win, then what is?

Vortex released on April 7th. Follow Wolvennest on Instragram and Facebook.

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