Wrath of the Weak
Alogon
Profound Lore
“Jordan! Shut the damn door, it’s freezing!”
Just a few minutes ago I was out for a walk in -25 degree weather, feet crunching on bone-dry snow, face battered by one of those devastating arctic winds that appear a few times every Canadian winter, eyes pelted with snowflakes that are whipping horizontally at 20 miles per hour. This is also the night I have to churn out a review of the second album by ambient black metal outfit Wrath of the Weak, and as I revisit this spellbinding effort for the tenth time this week, trying to regain the feeling in my wind-burned cheeks, I’m struck by just how perfect a winter album this is.
Of course, black metal and the dead of winter have always gone hand in hand, but as icily atmospheric as the genre may be, the music is doubly powerful when we’re sheltered from equally morbid weather, and it’s clear that musician Jordan Buck, who endures those wicked lake effect storms in Buffalo, NY, knows a thing or two about conveying that sense of isolation musically. Not far removed from the hypnotic strains of Velvet Cacoon, Alogon kicks off with the force of a Lake Erie wind whipping open a screen door, barely letting up for 45 minutes, guitars and programmed drums deliberately repeating the same patterns. But, like being huddled up in a house that’s being throttled by the elements, Buck’s subtle, underlying, raga-like melodies hint at a sense of warmth that the fair-weather kvltists of the world can’t quite grasp. —Adrien Begrand
