Review
Watain
Trident Wolf Eclipse

Spending any length of time with Watain will convince you of at least one thing: this is a band who means it. For this Swedish horde, black metal is life. It’s everything and for frontman Erik Danielsson it’s an integral part of his personality. Interviews with him always tend on the intense side and for Watain that passion spills through their music in waves. Trident Wolf Eclipse is a record that strips back the Watain sound to a primal, swirling beast and forgoes the length and experimentation of 2013s The Wild Hunt for a spritely thirty-five minute ride into oblivion. Where many found fault in The Wild Hunt was in its change of tack from the career defining moments of 2010s Lawless Darkness and the inclusion of “They Rode On” which was essentially a ballad.

Watain don’t seem like the kind of band to completely take to heart what the masses think and they have always trod their own path. For them to come roaring back after so long with a record as punchy and deadly as Trident Wolf Eclipse is a sign of them circling back to the early days whilst also pushing the genre firmly back into the dangerous waters that it began in. Black metal in the modern era is an altogether different beast than it was twenty years (for better or worse depending on your viewpoint) but Watain have long been proponents of the darkness that started it all. 

Trident Wolf Eclipse begins on the fire of “Nuclear Alchemy” a stirring call to arms from a band that still have the power to engage. It’s a quick-fire track that states their entire manifesto in one fell swoop. Vocals are raw and commanding while the instrumentation behind is a vortex of sound that often releases a churning melody into the abyss. Danielsson’s word sits firmly on the spiritual side with the power of Satan running through his voice and the words he spits over all. 

The doomier rhythms of “Teufelsreich” allow Watain to showcase their ability to step away from all-out war yet the track still dominates with crushing drums and cycling guitar riffs that later crunch down into squalling feedback - as if the band purposely left in the rawest parts of recording to prove just how much they owe to the underground. It's a neat trick and one that the band don't necessarily need to include but it's interesting to note that they still feel that affiliation despite their transcendence of the world they came from. 

Trident Wolf Eclipse is the sound of Watain regaining that filth-ridden aspect that their fans came to love. It’s a record that breathes with fire and superiority. It’s certainly a refresh on their take on black metal and that dedication comes through clearly on album closer “The Fire of Power.” A little obvious in its title but a dynamic statement all the same.