Album Review: Watain - Trident Wolf Eclipse

Many people thought Watain's 2013 effort The Wild Hunt was bloated and lacking in aggression.

It seems like the boys have been listening, because Wolf Trident Eclipse is the most brutal thing they have released since 2003's Casus Luciferi if not 2000's Rabid Death's Curse. Where recent efforts have clocked in at around one hour, this beauty is over in around half that time. It's not exactly Marduk's Panzer Division Marduk, but it is Watain at their most stripped-down and visceral. Trident Wolf Eclipse is a furious blast of black metal anger and a repudiation of the band's more melodic tendencies. Purists will love this record (for obvious reasons), but for the rest of us, it's simply a superb 34 minutes of well-executed and unrelenting black metal mayhem.