Wolvhammer are a band with members from Illinois and Minnesota that has had an album reviewed before in this zine and plays a mixture of sludge and black metal and this is a review of their 2018 album "The Moments Of Ash & Bone" which will be released in May by Blood Music.
Atmospheric sounding synths start off the album before going into more of a heavier direction while the faster sections of the songs bring in a decent amount of tremolo picking and blast beats which also gives the songs a more raw feeling along with the vocals also bringing in high pitched black metal screams.
Throughout the recording you can also hear a great mixture of slow, mid paced and fast parts while all of the musical instruments have a very powerful sound to them along with the slower sections of the songs bringing in elements of sludge as well as some of the tracks being very long and epic in length.
Growls are also used at times while the guitar solos and leads are utilized they are done in a very dark yet melodic fashion along with some songs also bringing in a small amount of clean playing and clear vocals as well as some psychedelic elements also being utilized at times and some of the riffing brings in influences of Hellhammer and Celtic Frost but keeping everything more modern and stringed instruments can also be heard briefly on the closing track.
On this recording Wolvhammer keeps the sludge elements while taking their black metal side into more of a raw Nordic influenced direction as well as adding in some first wave influences and a touch of punk and psychedelia to make this album different from previous recordings, the production sounds very professional while the lyrics cover suicide and misanthropy themes.
In my opinion this is another great sounding recording from Wolvhammer and if you are a fan of black and sludge metal, you should check out this album. RECOMMENDED TRACKS INCLUDE "Eternal Rotting Misery" "Bathed In Moonblood and Wolflight" and "Solace Eclipsed". 8 out of 10.
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