Wolves in the Throne Room Touring with Pillorian

Wolves in the Throne Room
photo by Peter Beste

Wolves in the Throne Room will release their new album Thrice Woven on September 22 via Artemisia, and they’ll begin a US tour a week later with support fom Pillorian (the new band of Agalloch’s John Haughm). All date are listed below.

They recently released the video for opening track “Born From The Serpent’s Eye.” Here’s what Ian Cory wrote about it:

Wolves In The Throne Room begin where they left off on their last black metal record, 2011’s Celestial Lineage. “Born From The Serpent’s Eye” opens with an acoustic motif before erupting with a mix of keys and tremolo-picked guitars that evoke a sweeping view of a Pacific Northwestern wooded landscape. Unlike other Wolves In The Throne Room songs, this one moves rapidly from one idea to the next, like they are making up for lost time. This new pace allows listeners to forego the patience normally required for this band’s work in exchange for sheer excitement.

There are some new additions to the fold too, like the buzzsaw riff that closes out the music video. Combined with relatively dry production, the sudden aggression is uncharacteristic for Wolves In The Throne Room, but welcome after a dry spell. It’s no surprise, though: they’ve changed their approach with the addition of longtime live guitarist and former Fall Of The Bastards member Kody Keyworth to the official lineup. While “Born From The Serpent’s Eye” is far from a Fall Of The Bastards song, it does suggest that the band’s arsenal has expanded since Keyworth joined.

The music video’s sudden cutoff is an interesting move, in part because doing a “video edit” seems unusual for a band prone to lengthy songs, but also because “Born From The Serpent’s Eye” really takes off in its second half. With help from Anna Von Hausswolff, Wolves In The Throne Room slows the pace and reminds the world why they are the biggest name in atmospheric black metal. Von Hausswolff, whose spooky, organ-led 2015 release The Miraculous absolutely deserves a listen, dominates the song’s bridge with densely layered harmonies. When the full band returns in force for the track’s climax, the ghostly ambience of Von Hausswolff’s contributions carry over, breathing air back into the mix and allowing the song to close on a high note. The coda is as haunting a progression as anything on the Wolves In The Throne Room’s last few records, so if you were worried that they’d lost a step on Celestite, you can now rest easy.

Wolves in the Throne Room / Pillorian — 2017 Tour Dates
September 29 Boise, ID @ Neurolux
September 30 Salt Lake City, UT @ Metro Music Hall
October 2 Colorado Springs, CO @ Black Sheep
October 3 Albuquerque, NM @ Launch Pad
October 5 Houston, TX @ White Oak (downstairs)
October 6 New Orleans, LA @ Siberia
October 7 Birmingham, AL @ Zydeco
October 9 Tampa, FL @ Crowbar
October 10 Atlanta, GA @ Masquerade Hell
October 11 Richmond, VA @ Capital Ale House
October 12 Baltimore, MD @ Baltimore Sound Stage
October 13 Brooklyn, NY @ Villain
October 14 Pittsburgh, PA @ Rex Theater
October 16 Cincinnati, OH @ The Taft Ballroom
October 17 St. Louis, MO @ Delmar Hall
October 18 Oklahoma City, OK @ 89th St. Collective
October 20 Tucson, AZ @ 191 Toole
October 21 Los Angeles, CA @ Echoplex
October 22 Berkeley, CA @ Cornerstone
October 24 Portland, OR @ Tonic Lounge
October 25 Olympia, WA @ Obsidian