Northern Vantage

Well, the title says it all really. The Southern Lord Blog has the news today that the new Wolves in the Throne Room album is finally available for order from the Southern Lord webshop. The album will be available in stores September 26th.

“The deep woe inside black metal is about the fear that we can never return to the mythic, pastoral world that we crave on a deep subconscious level”

The brand new Wolves In The Throneroom albumis now available directy from Southern Lord. It will be “officially” released in most stores September 25th. You can get it now directly from Southern Lord! Wolves will also be embarking on a long tour of the USA during the month of October!

The new album: “Two Hunters” was recorded on tape, at London Bridge and Aleph Studios by Randall Dunn (Earth, sunn 0)))/Boris, Kinski) in the Pacific Northwest.. The process of the recording was very organic with very minimal use of any digital manipulation or processed effects. Jessica Kinney (previous collaborations with Eyvind Kang and Asva) provides beautifully dark vocals on “Cleansing” and “I Will Lay Down My Bones Among the Rocks and Roots.” Comes packaged in a 5″ mini-gatefold thick cardboard jacket.

Also be sure to check out the dates for the extensive US tour in support of the new album.

Sat 9/22 Calgary, Alberta - Noctis Valkyrie Fest
Thu 9/27 Seattle, WA - Crocodile Cafe w/Kinski
Sat 9/29 Portland, OR - Holocene w/Danava, Thrones, The Better to See You With
Sun 9/30 Eureka, CA - The Visa w/Lord’s Burning Rain
Tue 10/02 San Francisoc, CA - Slim’s w/Ludicra, Graves At Sea
Wed 10/03 Santa Cruz, CA - somewhere in the woods w/Ludicra
Thu 10/04 San Diego, CA - The Casbah
Fri 10/05 Los Angeles, CA - TBA w/Ludicra, Manslaughter
Sat 10/06 The Sets Tempe AZ w/Jesu
Sun 10/07 Launchpad Albuquerque NM w/Jesu
Tue 10/09 Hailey’s Denton TX w/Jesu
Wed 10/10 The Mohawk Austin TX w/Jesu
Thu 10/11 Walters Houston TX w/Jesu
Fri 10/12 Spanish Moon Baton Rouge LA w/Jesu
Sat 10/13 Club Downunder Tallahassee FL w/Jesu
Mon 10/15 The Social Orlando FL w/Jesu
Tue 10/16 THE EARL Atlanta GA w/Jesu
Wed 10/17 Cat’s Cradle Carrboro NC w/Jesu
Sat 10/20 Athens, OH - TBA w/Skeletonwitch
Mon 10/22 Empty Bottle w/Lair of the Minotaur, Indian
Fri 10/26 Salt Lake City, UT - Broken Record Bar - zombie prom night!
Sun 10/28 Portland, OR - Ground Kontrol w/Walken, Floating Goat, Dj Nate C

Thanks to dschalek of Metal Flows In My Veins for dropping a comment in the 777 thread, telling about his report from the The El Rey Theatre, Los Angeles, California show.

A small quote from the Wolves in the Throne Room paragraph in dschalek's blog entry:

Consisting of a trio without a bass on a darkened stage, the band blazed through a very taut, precise 25 minute set without any acknowledgement of the crowd. They simply went out and played with noticeable intensity, ultimately resulting in a great set.

Head on over to the Metal Flows In My Veins to read the whole report, and check out pictures and videos from the show!

I got some news directly from Wolves in the Throne Room. It seems a lot of people are eagerly awaiting their second album, "Two Hunters", by now. The band have been working very hard lately, and the recording of the album was done with Randal Dunn at at London Bridge studios and at Dunn's home studio Aleph. Dunn has previously worked with SUNN, Earth, Asva and others. Tracklist:

1 - Dia Artio
2 - Behold the Vastness and Sorrow
3 - Clearing
4 - I Will Lay Down My Bones Among the Rocks and Roots

These four songs "serve to tell a story of deep sadness and sacrafice", according to the band. No release date has been set yet. As previously noted, this album will be less "traditional black metal sounding" than Diadem, which the band themselves consider "a tribute to the genre".

The band are playing shows with Sunn and Earth on the westcoast of the USA in early July, and will also play a Seattle show with Mayhem. A Nation wide tour in support of "Two Hunters" is planned in September, possibly also going to Canada.

Tour dates nicked from the Southern Lord blog:
SUNN O))) / EARTH / WEEDEATER / WOLVES IN THE THRONE ROOM West Coast 07
July 2 - San Diego, CA -Casbah
July 3 - Los Angeles, CA - El Rey
July 4 - San Francisco, CA - Independent
July 6 - Portland, OR - Mt Tabor
July 7 - Seattle, WA - El Corazon

The gorgeous and excellent Oaken Throne Zine is about to release the fourth issue. There is no mention of the new issue on Oaken Throne's web site, but artist Justin Bartlett, who has done the above Wolves in the Throne Room illustration for the new issue, shares the following words on his website:

Just got my copies of Oaken Throne magazine. This issue has tons of reviews and interviews. Some bands interviewed are Black Boned Angel, Graves at Sea, Nachtmystium, Thralldom, Villains, and Wolves in the Throne Room which I did the centerfold illustration for.

Be sure to check out Justin's website www.wearetherobots.com/pages, for lots of cool artwork (among others he has done covers and web sites for Cadaver and Aura Noir). Oaken Throne 4 should be available real soon, then.

Update: I got an email from Ben West of Oaken Throne, and he wants me to inform all interested parties that you should be patient, and that the web site will be updated soon. Advertisers, writers and illustrators are getting their copies now, and distributors will be next.

Some email correspondance news straight from the band...

Wolves in the Throne Room are planning to release a vinyl edition of "Diadem of Twelve Stars" album through Southern Lord. The artwork will be totally redone for the LP, but keep the same concept and theme.

The band has started writing a new album, and they hope to have it out early 2007. This album will be less "traditional black metal sounding" than Diadem, which the band themselves consider "a tribute to the genre". They are in the process of leaving Vendlus (who released Diadem). They want to stress however, that they "respect Vendlus immensely and plan to work with them again in the future". Southern Lord and Relapse are possible candidates for the next album.

A split with Graves at Sea is also being planned.

Other news from the Wolves camp include stories of life changing concert experiences on forest floors, out of control and drugged out "rainbow family" hippies that almost cause forest fires, and fantastic live shows with Poison Ring, Fauna, Ludicra and Middian.