Wolfchant
Embraced by Fire

Had this band visited this area where I live they would probably have been lynched because here people see wolves and other predators as a threat to their quality of life, but then again I live in the area where most inbreeds live in this country so maybe such dumb ideas are to be expected from idiots such as those. But I don’t think hostility towards the majestic wolf will deter these chanters from chanting though, the german septet are back with their sixth studio album that seems to be featuring the same dragon as labelmates Bornholm on the cover. They offer us eight tracks and 43 minutes embraced by the fire of paganism, and they do it on a new label which happens to be NoiseArt Records.

I don’t think that changing label has meant anything for the resulting music by Wolfchant as Embraced by Fire feels like a logical evolvement from the two previous albums which signified something of a small breakthrough for the band. It is so called pagan metal which means folkish extreme metal with mighty choirs, blasphemous growling, some pompous clean sining, lots of keyboards and melodies, folk metal undertones and more. Easily said it is melodic extreme metal with a quite dynamic sound which is not only accentuated by the dynamics between clean and growly vocals. I did think that they had a good production on their previous album but this time they have found something even better in terms of sound and dynamics and seen only to the production side of the thing it is both more mature and more high quality than anything they have done before. I would say that it is their best album to date in that regard and their sound quality is rivalling the biggest guns of of the genre nowadays, but then of course they need the songs to back this quality production.

And so they do. This is to me a great album, it is dynamic and energetic and also quite entertaining to listen to. I would say that these guys have grown into a beginning force to be reckoned with and this is their best album to date as far as I can tell and also amongst the more interesting albums I have heard in the genre as well. Best of all on this album is the title track along with the seventh track called Freier Geist, but all the songs on the albums are really good and you will be hard pressed to find any major drawbacks of this album, especially if you are an enjoyer of pagan stuff. The album is even of the right playing time as 43 minutes is just that length that feels just enough and not too much, I think they have done really well with this album.

Are you a fan of pagan metal? then prepare to embrace the fire and give 43 minutes of your time to this great collection of time, I can assure you that it will be worth it. It might just as well also win over some new fans to these guys as this is their strongest effort to date and that by quite a margin, that is why I recommend you to take a close look at this fiery embrace, because it might have you chanting for the wolves in the future.

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