Wolfhetan-This turned up rather than in digital format, presented in a lavish booklet with earthy water-coloured artwork and inside a booklet with some of the most gorgeous nature inspired paintings I have seen in many a moon. From here a lot had to be worked out, for a start the band name as nothing here was obvious or laid out in front of me, this was something that I had to discover for myself and of course that is a challenge I am all the more happy to partake in. Arriving at the name Wolfhetan I discovered to my shock that this lavish presentation was courtesy of a self-released band from Thuringia in Germany and they had released one album prior to it in 2006 called Entrucken. They are it would appear a quartet who have members that are involved in other obscure (to me) bands and apparently they write music “for the soul” and shun normal trappings of publicity and playing live in general.

Musically they are incredibly complex and it has taken me many listens to this album to get remotely beneath the surface of it and at 72 minutes in length there is no quick fix to be found here. Most songs are over the ten minute mark and long and complex, just calling this lot black metal would be completely wrong and although it is a base there is plenty more to this. We start with mournful sounds of strings and the sea lapping against the shore. Folk is at the heart before some almost psychedelic and progressive tones greet us etched a bit reminiscent of modern Enslaved to my ears. Vocals are low in the mix at first but growl louder as the first really memorable guitar melody twists in. Already there is a lot going on here and you are fully aware this is going to be music that is dense and impossible to simply pigeonhole. First track alone ‘In die Stille der Zeit’ (In The Silence OF Night) packs more into itself than many bands would a whole career, sweeping away with harsh flurries and moments of acoustic grandeur that are obviously borne of utmost heartfelt passion. It also reminds a little of the windswept vistas from our own Fen and with some clean vocals adding to the swaggering clamour even more so. Almost acting as an interlude Abschied takes it all to another realm with some almost jazz like bass playing over fluttering guitar and rhythmic drumming. It almost doesn’t fit in but somehow it does too, odd to explain. This brief ‘Farewell’ sets it all up for the next long part of this odyssey as Volkommenheit blazes back in with hell for leather aggression powering away and taking no prisoners. Again the well-defined bass lines are intriguing here having a clear tone through the savagery and as things slow a bit they are prolific focal point of the flowing progressive work.

So is there a downside to this at all. Well yes in a way and I wanted to like this more but I found it musically on the whole a bit too obtuse and a bit too complex for its own good at times. Wolfhetan don’t go for simplicity and I found as I perhaps would do with a band like Agalloch that after listening to the complete album there was not that much I could take away from the experience and talk about from memory. It is akin to taking an exam at times something that some may excel at and love doing but others may find detracting from the simple things like pure enjoyment. I can imagine this being the sort of an album that a skilled musician (not I) would absolutely love but there was many an time here I felt I was missing out and simply not comprehending the full scope of what was laid out before me. I guess that as a result found concentration waning at times which was quite frustrating.

Perhaps though this is a good thing and it means that the music is something that I could theoretically come back to plenty of times and it would always retain a feeling of freshness. I feel like it is sinking in a little on each listen. The folk etched parts are more defined, the quirky instrumental nuances are getting into the consciousness a little more and I am beginning to appreciate the gruff rasping vocals more when at first I found them a little too coarse, setting me on edge. I certainly cannot remember having an album quite as challenging to sum up in a while and can only be grateful that I was not limited to 150 word count or anything for such a preposterously complex piece of art.

The convoluted chord miasma introducing the title track reminds a little of avant-garde jesters Fleurety and as I said things are masterfully played here and if you really listen, the clever fluid complexity of the guitar weaving really shines through, precise, dextrous and completely involving. As things progress through the last couple of tracks again the music has not quite sunk in fully and I have to feel that maybe I am still not there yet and in all honesty you could probably put all other music aside for a whole month and just listen to this to gain the full scope of what is behind it. Well it took them six years to write so why should instant gratification be provided for the listener? After an intense passage of complete rage I am dropped into calmer acoustic tones of last instrumental number Ankunft but realise that what I really need to do is say goodbye to this album for a month or so and come back to it and see how I feel about it then.  One thing that I am sure about though is a top score for the packaging and artwork!

(7.5/10 Pete Woods)

http://www.facebook.com/wolfhetan.band

 

http://wolfhetan.bandcamp.com