Wolves in the Throne Room - Two Hunters

Two Hunters is the name of the second full-length album released by the notorious black metal band Wolves in the Throne room, in 2007. This album was released just before the recording of the masterpiece Black Cascade, which I recommend as well.

While this album shares some similarities with its following, Black Cascade, it holds also some major differences. While Two Hunters is still very avant-garde, it resembles quite more to "traditional" ambient black metal than Black Cascade.

Wolves in the Throne Room are an underground black metal band formed in 2004, they are one of the more recent band, yet widely acclaimed as one of the best Black Metal acts around today.

Once again, Two Hunters is simply a must-have for any Black Metal fan, or even Heavy Metal fan. This album was also rated fourth (#4) on the best black metal list.

Every album of the band Wolves in the Throne Room is a true Black Metal masterpiece, but Two Hunters displays the genre in its rawest and purest form.
Two Hunters is an art of its own, surpasses all Black Metal and still hasn't been matched yet.

The riffs are raw yet harmonic, and this album contains some of the best vocals ever recorded.
The bass work is also quite noticeable, adding a hypnotic effect to the music.
The guitar work is simply brilliant, and conveys alternated rawness and melodies.

The album Two Hunters once more is composed of four tracks, but there are no fillers at all ! All fifty minutes get a five star !

Dia Artio - 4.75/5

A nice introduction to the album can be found in this nearly six minute long instrumental track. I like this song, but it is certainly not the best of the album.

Vastness and Sorrow - 5/5

Classic, classic. I would of rated it 10/5 !
Vastness and Sorrow is the perfect silent masterpiece of this album, and is probably one of the most renown Wolves in the Throne Room tracks.
No other black metal song sounds like this emotionally grim track.
On a side-note the ending solo-like riff is amazing, probably one of the best in Black Metal today.

Cleansing - 5/5

This track starts out with a four minute long ambient introduction, and clean vocals. It's a great addition to the song, creating a feeling of anxiousness but calmness at the same time.
Then the heavy guitars and bass kick in, with a nice dose of distortion.
The vocals on this track are simply demented, one of the best Black Metal songs in terms of vocals.
After about seven minutes, the song slows down and goes into a more drum oriented phase.

I Will Lay Down My Bones Among the Rocks and Roots - 5/5

A great conclusion to the Two Hunters masterpiece. This is also the longest song on the album, almost twenty minutes long.
I usually dislike songs over five or six minutes, but this is a perfect exception as I can listen to it all the time any time.
After a few minutes of clean guitar ambient intro, the song kicks in with heavy blast-beats and a nice hypnotic and catchy riff.
After five minutes, the drums change and a brilliant riff kicks in.
This song is maybe the second best of the album, besides Vastness and Sorrow.

The song ends on an outro, kind of in the style of Agalloch (which means in a very good way).