A rabid curse in praise of blackest light cast upon the trembling fields of old and dried sacrificial blood this sophomore full-length album from Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires, Argentina-based black metal quintet WOLVES’ WINTER turns away, out of sight of the face of God, seeking solace from heinous carnal disquietude. Developing personage over the course of a decade and a half without compromising the integrity of their original thought these fellowes retain a high standard for raw, melodious, and occult-spiritualized black metal on ‘The Medivm‘. Though still clearly hinging their central voicing on the innovations of the last two decades of Finnish black metal classicism these fellowes are yet capable of wild strikes, of dark atmosphere and hall-reaping dread-tones which inspire and illuminate their occult-sighted drive.

Wolves’ Winter was formed in the 2008 by Beelzebuth Nazgul alongside original bassist Cabra Phobos as various early lineups would produce a series of demos and rehearsals inspired by Finnish black metal (Sargeist, Behexen, et al.) as well as groups who’d fuse fluid melodicism with harshened craft (Arckanum, Beastcraft) to start. Around 2011-2012 they’d more or less felt readied to attempt a full-length and alluded to this in interviews but things never went further than a compilation of early material (‘Lycanthropus Legionis‘, 2011) and a fairly raw rehearsal demo a year later. If you have been impressed with the work they’ve released post-2018 and are searching for value in old precedence the original version of the well-received ‘Spell of Necromancy‘ demo from 2011 is still worth your time, even if it wasn’t a complete thought compared to their later standards; With a more solidified and dependable lineup achieved by 2016 we’d ultimately get the matured realization of the band’s intent by 2018 with the brilliant ‘Necrosophic Illumination‘ EP where the core three original songs on that CD featured haunting choral exaggerations, sweeping melodic rhythm guitar work and their most palpably inspired performances to date. The ‘Spell of Necromancy‘ demo was also fully re-recorded and released soon after, a worthy recreation of their Satanic Warmaster inspired early days with a surprisingly ‘clean’ production value applied.

The years between and the time spent toiling toward a high-standard presentation and authorship were of course worthwhile as Wolves’ Winter might’ve taken ~ten years longer than expected to produce their debut full-length album (‘Qayin Coronatvs‘, 2021) but it was well worth the strong foundation achieved. Considering the years of development that first record was essentially making good on the promise lodged in mind for a decade of persistence and as such it reflected both where they were at the time as well as the best ideas they’d dragged along with, complimenting their first two EPs in a direct way. When setting any expectations for what ‘The Medivm‘ is this is of course vital provenance, an album with clear and bristling presence with inspiration taken from the early 2000’s at its core and revised up to the standards for cutting melodicism achieved in the 2010’s with Finnish black metal being the main bar set for fidelity and composition. That said, they’ve launched this record with that experience behind them as reinforcing values rather than a template for what comes next.

Their cult of Death emboldens at the end of days. The occult themes inherent to the lyrical propositions put forth by Wolves’ Winter appear more clearly stated by 2021 with a focus seemingly related to gnostic and/or blasphemic interpretation of dark figures in Judeo-Christian theology which are of course relevant to Satanic (or, Luciferian) ritual and death worship in general. Without knowing or elaborating upon any of the dark esoterica and spiritual wrath down to each lyrics here I would suggest most listeners will find their point of obsession via this album’s more melodic riff-based formae herein rather than the themes outlined. There are roughly five pieces on the full spin through ‘The Medivm‘ which immediately and thoroughly strike into inspired and encompassing themes, be they anthem or draining ode, which are driven by ear worming dual guitar forged melodies. Though the album opens in dramatic fashion between its howling salvo (“The Paradoxical Fullness of Nothingness”) and the 90’s-anthemic spire of “Levitation of the Buried Ones” we don’t fully dive into the thrilling rhythmic pocket of this album until the grinding strum of “Bornless & Deathless” eventually cracks open the doorway. Around ~2:05 minutes into the piece a surprising shift into what I’d consider a riff progression more likely to be found in Hellenic black metal throwback acts, subtle as this type of distinction might appear to start these unexpected moments (however borrowed they sometimes appear) begin to accumulate into an engaging and volatile experience song after song.

Lightless and scaling their menace outward into a bleakest realm the songs that’d most readily caught and held my ear on the full listen arrived around the mid-point of ‘The Medivm‘ as “Flame of Ghosts” a certain headier era of Sargeist as it’d developed with some declarative vocalizations and a few classic Norse-leveled verse riffs used for basic effect, a simple enough song but to great effect. “Calling From Beyond” is probably the one piece to stain the mind most completely beyond “Bornless & Deathless” with its brisk rate of fire and circuitous tasking through its core melody, the strength and the core function of Wolves’ Winter‘s whole gig and where they do it best from my point of view. Of course my preference is additionally persuaded by a bass guitar driven transition with admirably set flourish and an overall most dynamic showing as the piece develops its ardor in the space of about five minutes. The remainder of Side B is no less inspired though “Calling From Beyond” was a most common point of inspiration as I’d passed through he album numerous times, pairing it with the anthemic upswing of “Black Light of Qalmana” should serve the most compounding argument for what is most effective about this release as a whole.

Though there are a couple of less engaging, droning pieces here and there the bulk of ‘The Medivm‘ is engaging, inspired and able to continually renew interest with new elemental shifts and points of fusion with a global interest in a certain quintessence of spiritual black metal attack. That level of well-aware taste is clearly conveyed in some additional sense per the brilliantly detailed album artwork they’ve curated from the mind of artist Fernando Rojas aka Abismo / BlackArts which helps to elevate the experience per the fantastical nightside necromantical scene in progress. A scathingly rough but still clear enough render ensures the experience is both clear in its point of inspiration and additive to said tradition. Though we cannot necessarily suggest Wolves’ Winter is particularly original in the sense that their inspirations have endured quite loudly for a decade and a half there is yet plenty enough value in their version of it per a focus on rousing riffcraft and just enough melodic interest generated to call back for some repeated listening. A moderately high recommendation.

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