WATAIN – The Wild Hunt (2013)

Genre: Orthodox Black Metal

Label: Century Media

Rating: 2.5/10

I've hated Watain ever since they became a Dissection clone and the media's pet “serious”/”religious Black Metal” band. Now every casual Black Metal listener and mall-rat thinks they “get” Orthodox Black Metal. However, I thought I'd give The Wild Hunt a fair listen, and I will say this: they no longer sound exactly like Dissection. However, what I went through in my listens was, at times, excruciating.

Opening track “Night Vision” is an instrumental that quickly seems confused. Firstly, it starts with clean guitar playing a stereotypical Watain chord progression that I can't stand. It quickly features accordion and cello, but works its way toward distorted guitar. The rhythm chord progression is actually pretty cool, as is the lead, but before you know it, that ends. After some ambient noise, it segues into track two, “De Profundis.” The main riff is not that bad, but the descending trill that comes at the end of the progression just sucks and sounds out of place. The vocals sound like they were thrown in as an afterthought. They just don't fit the rhythm... at all. Halfway through the song and I haven't been able to identify a chorus. At 3:03 a guitar solo that goes nowhere kicks in. After a final verse, the track ends, and “Black Flames March” begins. It starts off with a pretty righteous riff and lead. However, after this intro, a part where there are far too many fucking trills comes in, and leads into the verse. Evidently in this song Erik thought he'd try out drunken Motorhead-style vocals; they just do not work. At around 4:25 it reverts to the intro. Another verse, and done.

Song four, “All That May Bleed,” is actually a good song. The vocals fit, the music is decent and well-executed. The most lacklustre parts are the solo and the riff that follows it. “The Child Must Die” starts off with a good riff that gives way to a verse that has a slightly eighties feel to it. The chorus is pretty good, as is the riff that follows it. The bridge has a nice, dark sound, and the solo is interesting... And then they wrote “They Rode On.” A fucking ballad. In Orthodox Black Metal. Colour me disgusted, but even so it's as boring as the majority of 80s ballads were. The solo is painfully cliché for this type of song, as is the rhythm guitar track. It becomes especially bad at 6:09. What I really want to know is why the hell did they write this song? What was Erik thinking? Is it his drug-addled mind? For added cliché, as if that weren't enough, they bring in a female singer to duet with Erik...

Track seven, “Sleepless Evil,” at least starts like more classic Watain, but is a boring song with a cool drumbeat. Track eight is the title track and starts off dull; it never really gets exciting. The clean vocals are the best part of the song, and can't really be described as original. Neither can the solo. The acoustic guitar parts to this song are actually good; it's a shame they don't last longer/feature more prominently. The intro to “Outlaw” can only be described as weird. After this it sounds like Watain, but does nothing to draw the listener in. “Ignem Veni Mettere” starts off with a clean riff that is yet another Watain-cliché, it eventually leads to distorted guitar, but the music of the first half doesn't really fit this style of Black Metal. In the second half, it has a personality switch, so to speak. It becomes much darker and more Black Metal. And onto the last track, “Holocaust Dawn.” Yea. It sounds as any classical Watain song might. It breaks form at roughly 3:45 to a clean guitar and an acoustic track with gently sung vocals over it. It returns to form at 5:39. They do their best to make a grand exit with the drums, and then it ends.

I was going to score it 4/10, but because “They Rode On” is so bad, I had to deduct 1.5 points. I know 2.5 as a score is hard to take seriously, but believe me, you'll at best not remember anything from this album, at worst you'll be scarred from hearing that lump of shit ballad. They took the best form of Black Metal, Orthodox, and shit all over it with this record. If you still wish to buy the album, you can do so here. The kiddies might like this crap. In fact, if you're reading this and you like the album, I don't even know what drew you to my blog – perhaps it's the Behemoth review. You would do well to check out what else I've reviewed to get a sense of what I consider worthy music and bands. I feel like I need a shower now. Time for some Deathspell Omega.