Wolfshade – When Above… (2010)

Every few months we get an album that completely takes us by surprise and we end up loving it and adding it to our permanent ‘all-time favorites’ playlist. This month the “When Above…” by the Wolfshade has achieved a spot for eternity in said playlist, featuring seven compositions of majestic Atmospheric Black Metal/Dark Metal, this one-man band is probably one of the best we have heard in quite a while.

Kadhaas is the sole member behind Wolfshade, a French ‘band’ that has released three full-length albums to date and if “When Above…” is only their third release, we can only imagine how amazing their future albums will be. The band features influences from Dark Metal masters Bethlehem (vocals particularly), a hefty influence of Atmospheric elements, some Post-rock/Post-Black Metal elements, and some more Doom/Gothic oriented guitar/keyboard structures that create an ethereal atmosphere that will send chills through your spine.

Starting off with a dreamy Greek named intro song, Wolfshade creates the perfect atmospheric foundation for the coming aurual haunting that “When Above…” unleashes upon the listener. Recently we can somewhat compare this album to a ‘faster and heavier’ paced version of Lustre’s “A Glimpse of Glory”, and it can easily be compared to a less bombastic, but equally Elend.

Every track in this album features hypnotic passages that will draw you to the very emotive sound behind this majestic release. There are some elements that can be linked to suicidal Black Metal bands like Dodsferd, but Wolfshade is on its own dimension when it comes to creating intricate melodies, desolate vocal passages and an overall atmosphere of helplessness unlike anything we’ve heard in quite a while.

 Do not think that all is very clam and relaxed, since in this album you might think that you have Wolfshade figured out with their tracks like “Ex Nihilo” only to find yourself wishing to die after listening to their Doomy songs like “Au Tombeau des illusions” and to the even more somber “Threnodie por un aster mourant”, where the clean spoken sections in French are just downright creepy.

The band does a great job in keeping things fresh, but still maintaining the overall depressive atmosphere that will crush your soul during the almost 50 minutes of music presented on “When Above…”. Some people might claim that this band is not ‘Black Metal’ enough since you will not find extreme tremolo-picking sections and furious inhuman drumming, but after a few spins to this album you will understand that Wolfshade is not just another plain BM band. We think that Wolfshade is not as ‘heavy’ as Celestia, and bands like that, but their slower pace makes the songs twice as painful to bear (and we mean this in a good thing).

We won’t ruin all the surprises in this album, but we will urge you to go and get this release as soon as you can if you like bands like Elend, Bethlehem (“Dictius Te Necare” era), Celestia, and even bands like Alcest that have quite a bit of atmospheric elements to their music.

Release: August 9th, 2010

Country: France