TRIDENT WOLF ECLIPSE

On their sixth album, Swedish black-metal mercenaries Watain move away from some of the rock \'n\' roll implications of 2013’s *The Wild Hunt* and turn up the chaos. Tracks like “Furor Diabolicus,” “Ultra (Pandemoniac),” and opener “Nuclear Alchemy” roar with rabid ferocity, while “Teufelsreich,” “Towards the Sanctuary,” and closer “Antikrists Mirakel”—complete with an arcane spoken-word monologue from Watain vocalist and mastermind Erik Danielsson—seethe and pulse with the kind of fiery, satanic intensity that pervades the band’s blood-soaked live shows.

It is a fine line to walk between tradition and evolution, one that is judged even more harshly amongst stubborn black metal elitists. Watai...

Ironically enough, and quite contrary to the darkness they surely wish to portray, the spotlight upon Sweden's WATAIN has shined quite brightly in terms of fanfare. The unit's notoriously vile live performances and consistently impressive and singular take on Scandinavian black metal over the last c...

A review of Trident Wolf Eclipse by Watain, available January 5th worldwide via Century Media Records.

There is no denying that Watain's status as a preeminent extreme metal band is secure at this stage of their existence.