Wolves in the Throne Room @ St Luke's, Glasgow (21st January 2020)

with: Of Spire and Throne
Hosted by: Triple G

WORDS: Joanne Gray

Having very much gotten into atmospheric black metal over the last year or so, as well as very much enjoying the band's set when supporting Behemoth last year (review here), I was dead keen to check out Washington's Wolves in the Throne Room when they announced they were coming back to Glasgow. Add the fact that the band were going to be playing the renovated church venue of St Luke's and I knew that I had to get myself a ticket. Of all the places to play in Glasgow, this seemed just the perfect fit for a band of this type. But more on this later.

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Up first was the only support band of the evening in the form of Edinburgh's equally suitable doom-infused extreme act Of Spire and Throne. I didn't have a chance to listen to the band before the gig that night, but I had heard that they were something special within Edinburgh's local metal scene so I was very interested to see what they had to offer.

Starting things off in particularly atmospheric fashion, the band opened with a slow building song which saw drummer Donna Stewart gradually build up the intensity by switching from delicate hits to clinking away at the cymbals with a hammer. Immediately providing a focal point for the band, Stewart's minimalist but impacting smashes and energy highlighted the wonderfully doomy slabs coming from the two guitars around her. 

On its own, the drummer's playing would've been enough to grab my attention, but as the dirgy song built in volume and intensity, vocalist Ali Lauder brought forth some impressively guttural and animalistic growls to the table. Completing the trio's impressive sonic and visual palette, bassist Joe Turner wasn't to be left out with his technical fingerpicked style using a fretless bass. Kudos to the man, as you so very rarely see this being done within this style of music. 

Equally as riveting to watch, and in the process providing another element which made Of Spire and Throne stand out from your usual death-doom and/or funeral doom bands, was the inclusion of unusual synth sounds. Favouring guitar-like squeals and dissonant screeches and bleeps rather than the more commonly utilised atmospheric orchestral swells, the sounds provided here were unique and fascinating to watch play out. Especially impressive was when the bassist would jump between his bass and the keys, and even at times play open notes with one hand at the same time as fiddling with different buttons with the other. During some of the more quiet moments, the drummer would also jump onto the keys to provide a more ambient foundation for the vocalist to howl on top of. 

Upon ending their set, I was very impressed with what I'd just seen. By the looks of things, the crowd (which was considerably more sparse at the beginning) were very much into their performance as well. Although the level of crowd interaction was mostly reserved until the final moments when Lauder would thank the crowd for watching them, and the promoter for booking them, it was very clear that the band were chuffed with the response they had received. And that's pretty understandable too, considering this was the band's first live show in 14 months! 

It certainly didn't feel like they hadn't played in this long from the tightness of this performance. I'd be very keen to check out Of Spire and Throne again, and very much hope this slot will push the band into playing more regular gigs again. A great opening act who were certainly not intimidated by the grand feel of the venue around them. They would also go on to set up things nicely for the night's main event...

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Only briefly noting the venue's distinctive decor for the duration of the support band's slot, the crackling sounds of firewood coming from the venue's PA would really help to focus in on some of the details before Wolves in the Throne Room came onstage. 

Elaborate banners and shields with decorative Celtic art were draped around the stage. Most notably, the huge backdrop would cover St Luke's gorgeous stained glass window and gigantic organ pipe. At first I thought this was a bit of a shame because it somewhat obscured the sense of majesty these particular features show off. But as the subtly different hues of the yellow, orange and red lights began to focus on the artwork and fog slowly billowed onto the stage, it became clear that the band were going for a more closed-in and oppressive feel for this set. And this darker feel would actually work really well with the material WITTR played that night. 

Entering the stage in conventionally solemn fashion and brandishing vintage wine bottles, the band opened with two tracks from the band's most recent album Thrice Woven, where their sense of lurking atmosphere was put on full display. The gentle and beautiful acoustic opening of 'Born From the Serpent's Eye' played over the PA before the band launched into the song's quick succession of blast beats and layered tremolo picking. Enter the hefty low growls from vocalist Aaron Weaver, and the full frontal twin attack of the black metal brothers on guitar and drums would be brought to the table in crushing fashion. This was immediately a loud start to the set that really set the gears in motion.

As is the way with WITTR and many other bands of their kind, the performance is brought to life with a rotating cast of members. Alongside the two Weaver brothers, Kody Keyworth appears to be the band's unofficial third member over on the second guitar and backing vocals. As would become clearer later in the set, the slightly different screamed styles from the two vocalists would provide a nice change of dynamics and give Aaron Weaver a chance to flex his fretting hand with some sweet chord stylings (made more visible by the light that helpfully illuminated his fretboard in the ever smoky room). 

I've not been able to find out who the current live bassist is for WITTR, but needless to say, the dude they have here was very much up to scratch with the rest of the band. Indeed, the whole band was on top musical form, as particularly shown in the faster moments here, such as in 'Angroboda's rapidfire riffing or 'Queen of Borrowed Light's live-wire sense of frenetic energy. 

As much as these first three songs were like a kick to the teeth with their more brutal black metal parts, there was still plenty of beauty and ambience to be found within the quieter moments of the tracks though. Peaks and troughs emerged in the energy of the songs as faster, more intense sections of battering sound would ebb away to be replaced with otherworldly sounds of water dripping, crackling fires and female backing vocals over smooth acoustic passages. Although this would present some respite for the band to then fully launch into their hypnotising blend of atmospheric black metal with more gusto, it would also present one of the only issues I would find from their entire set...

When I had seen WITTR support Behemoth, they had brought a keyboardist and backing vocalist with them to provide these underlying sounds in their more organic forms. That to me had been one of the standout elements of that particular performance. The distinct prominence of backing tracks instead of live musicians here did make this particular delivery feel just a little bit less authentic and engrossing. 

This would be most notable during the next song (from 2011's Celestial Lineage), 'Prayers of Transformation', which slowed things right down to a more dirgy pace; removed much of the band's vocals; and placed the soaring guitar and synth lines to the front and centre of the song. Instead of swelling quite to the extent that they would have done with someone being there on the keys, the intensity seemed to drop slightly as the atmosphere just didn't seem to shine through quite the same. 

I've got to say that it was at this point that I felt a slight dip in the crowd's energy as well as my own. As is the case with this type of music, I was beginning to feel a tad sleepy and my legs and back were beginning to ache from standing still for too long. As I looked at the time though, I was stunned to see that almost an hour had passed already and there wasn't much longer left to go. In an odd way though, my inner conflict about wanting to sit with my eyes closed at the side of the room whilst simultaneously not wanting to drag myself away from the band showed that WITTR had managed to get their claws into me regardless. 

Looking around, this appeared to the case for much of the audience around me who would tend to only occasionally bop their heads or sway slightly in time with the music. The hypnotic pulses of sound here had clearly reached its pinnacle during this particular song.

Equally mesmerising gentle clean tones and whooshing noises then led into the last song of the evening in the form of 2007's 'My Bones Among the Rocks and Roots'. After a relatively quick build up, there followed what was perhaps the most consistently aggressive 15 minutes of the evening, where the raw double bass drums and relentless screaming riffage and snarling howls accompanied a rather unexpected volume spike from the onstage monitors. Honestly, my ears were hurting by the end of this one. 

Definitely a way to pull the crowd from the slight grasps of slumber though, this final assault of black metal savagery was a great way to end the set. If there was to ever be a mosh pit at a gig like this, it would definitely happen during this sort of song. In this instance though, the crowded room would settle on seeing out the band with more vigorous headbanging. 

As the last few minutes of the epic track saw things slow down once more to feature only some slightly cleaner and more spacious chords, the sound gradually reduced to nothing and the cheers were rapturous. As the band lifted their instruments and gave what was perhaps their only real interaction with the crowd that night, you got the feeling that the band were appreciative of the attendance and response (even if their particular stage performance doesn't quite let you see this when they're performing). As the last notes of the band's gentle ambient backing track and remaining plumes of smoke faded away, you could then awaken to the fact that you have been in a music venue in the middle of a city the entire time, rather than an old abandoned church in the middle of the wilderness. 

Just like the last time I saw this band, I was totally bowled over by Wolves In The Throne Room's ability to create their own entire world with their sonic brand of atmospheric black metal. With all the visual elements in play here, I really got the impression that events like these in venues like this are a rare occurrence, and I was so glad to have experience a full set of theirs in this environment. 

If WITTR are keen to keep coming back to play at St Luke's then I'm convinced I will continue to keep seeing them. For the next time, I do hope they bring back a keyboard player (and I may position myself a bit closer to the side of the venue), but this was a wonderful experience regardless. 

Check out this band if you haven't already.

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