WINTERFYLLETH Find Themselves: “Whisper of the Elements”
Winterfylleth’s Threnody of Triumph garnered a decent amount of attention in 2012 and even ended up on a few year-end lists, but it didn’t really do much for me. It sounded like an identity crisis. They were a bunch of pups in the throne room, somewhat clumsily imitating their parents’ hunting style. Only British. And with less plaid.
Earlier this year they released a split with Drudkh, which suffered from an affliction known as being on a fucking split with Drudkh. It’s hard to listen to the other side of the split when you could just listen to more Drudkh. Plus, all the songs were covers, so it didn’t exactly give them a chance to prove themselves.
Then they released the first single from their upcoming album, The Divination of Antiquity, and I inserted my combat boot directly into my mouth. It’s really good. Guitarist/frontman Chris Naughton had this to say about “Whisper of the Elements”:
“Forest this, nature that, blast beats, tremolos, spirits and shit.”
Just kidding. Here’s what he really said:
“The song is part of the wider album concept about ’learning lessons from history’ and/or gaining spiritual insight from (i.e., divining and therefore Divination) history and the past (thus antiquity).
The song “Whisper Of The Elements” is about how nature will always be greater than man, and even though we all wage wars on one another, try to profit from each other and generally run around like we own the planet, ultimately nature has the power to rebel against that and bring us back down to earth. Its also about how nature was there before us and it will be there after us, and compared to nature we are but a blip on the timeline of the planet.
Interestingly this is the first time we’ve ever sung choral vocals over a blast beat section and done extreme vocals at the same time. I think it makes for a spine-tingling experience if you listen closely.”
Now, you boys and girls(?) know to take anything someone says about their own band with a grain of salt. You also know to trust everything I say with a blind assurance, and I say Mr. Naughton is right. My spine has never actually tingled, but this song is a soaring accomplishment. Stream it over at Stereogum or whatever it’s called. Or you can watch this lyric video, which I hate.
The Divination of Antiquity is out on October 7th via Candlelight Records. That’s my birthday, folks. Here’s the album art, which I also hate.
