Our friends at Satanath send us so much stuff, and like so much of the music that lands in our mailbox it gets buried and we don’t get the time to tell you all about it. I aim to address this over the next few reviews! First up is Wolfdom, whose Moonlight Misanthropy was released twelve whole months ago through GrimmDistribution in Ukraine.
Tagged as “black heavy”, this pretty much nails their sound which is recommended for fans of Midnight, Bewitcher or Darkthrone. For those who prefer classic heavy metal, add some harsh vocals and a bit of atmosphere and this is what you can expect. The guitars are haunting , yet carry that sawtooth edge that we’d often associate with thrash… but without the speed. You can still really bang your head to it, and at a faster pace than you’d get with doomier sub-genres. In fact, this would work with clean vocals – just not as well.
“Fractal Dawn of Endless Darkess” sets things up well. It chugs nicely and, dare I say it, almost grooves in places. The last 60 seconds or so are something you could almost dance to. “Black Flame of Hatred” is certainly a bit more in your face, and carries more of a punk overtone. Abrasive, shouty, and angry as the name would suggest. The music is more in the traditional black metal vein with the underlying dischord carrying the strummed chords.
Slowing things down a little, “The Throne of Winter Forest” is more ploddy in the Black Sabbath kind of way. Again, the influence of the traditional metal is strong and this theme carries on throughout the second half of the album. Angsty cries in “A Soul Enslaved by Fear and Despair”, the title track’s furious battery and screams, “Infernal Shadows…” sounding like a battle anthem, “Northern Wisdom”‘s very doomy breaks, and “Eternal Night Mystery” just running hell for leather towards the finish line.
While the album gets more “black” as it progresses, it’s a decent stepping stone for some who may think that particular genre is a little extreme for them.
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Moonlight Misanthropy is out now and available on Bandcamp
Check out all the bands we review in 2024 on our Spotify and YouTube playlists!
Wolfdom: spotify
