Watain – “Trident Wolf Eclipse” [Album Review]

Anyone who has witnessed Swedish terrors Watain live will attest to the fact that, if you’re looking for unadulterated raw black metal, there are few that come close to touching the group. Unsurprisingly then, Trident Wolf Eclipse, their newest offering spewed up on Century Media Records, sounds exactly like fans of the underground side of the genre demand their black metal to sound.

Right from the offset and opener “Nuclear Alchemy”, there is no doubting the intentions of the Swedes who lunge straight for the throat. Okay, so Century Media might see this album as one of their big-hitters for the year but, as far as major label interventions go, it’s nice to see the label have left the band to do what they’re best at.

Clocking in at just over thirty-four minutes and eight tracks long, Trident Wolf Eclipse is a violent, straight-to-the-point demonstration of savage underground black metal. From the raw sound to the guitars which buzz like flies ’round a corpse, the icing on the cake is frontman Erik Daniellson who spits out his diabolical poetry with the kind of venom that will have those of a weaker disposition shitting their pants in fear.

A blast of tracks like “Furor Diabolicus” and album finale “The Fire Of Power” and it’s hard to deny that Watain are on top of their game. Over time it seems that many of the leading flames heading up the black metal scene started to explore more symphonic avenues, however, this is not the case with Watain who, as Trident Wolf Eclipse demonstrates, have chosen to stick to what they know best with the resulting effort epitomising what made the black metal genre such a terrifying beast in the first place.

Trident Wolf Eclipse Track Listing:

01. Nuclear Alchemy
02. Sacred Damnation
03. Teufelsreich
04. Furor Diabolicus
05. A Throne Below
06. Ultra (Pandemoniac)
07. Towards The Sanctuary
08. The Fire Of Power

Run Time: 34:44
Release Date: January 5, 2018

Check out the song “Sacred Damnation” right here.