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Hierophant Nox's Review of Howling Lament Wolfgate are a four-piece symphonic black metal outfit from California, and “Howling Lament” is their debut demo, created after three years of steady rehearsal and line-up tuning . The sound they have created is instantly surprising in its depth; it’s most unexpected to stumble across a band so new yet so assured in the epic scale of their compositions. Whilst in Europe there tends to be a cynicism about the symphonic sound, which is often looked on as commercial or overly romantic due to the successes of Cradle of Filth and Dimmu Borgir, American acts like Wolfgate and fellow Californians Sothis seem to have rediscovered the approach and reinvented it for their own ends, often succeeding in reviving the original rawness and teeth-baring aggression that Emperor were so good at when melding the beautiful and the profane. Wolfgate’s guitar sound, on the raging, pacy “Ancient Dominion”, the rollicking, progressive “Invocation of the Gate of Nergal” and the agile, layered icy-edged “Incest Maternal Gifts” attempts to prove it will not be outdone by the heavy keyboards and synth-based atmospheres, each track outdoing its predecessor for sheer energy, invention and complexity on the part of six-stringers Dommiel and Sloarch. The varied, biting guitar work may keep things appropriately savage, but the keyboards are not exactly flowery, lending a bombastic, dramatic and sometimes- for example on the more mid-paced “Eternal Night Sky”- tragic air, and making the tracks seem epic and fantastical rather than soft-hearted. The vocal approach also hints that drama is the aim, with ritualistic chanting on “Invocation” and grim spoken word layered over the tolling of a bell on “Offerings of Blood” creating a sense of scene and narrative separate from the passion and fury of the more standard shrieked and grunted vocals. As with many symphonic black metal bands taking their first steps, Wolfgate’s production doesn’t quite meet their ambitions, and the guitars occasionally get lost in a slightly messy final product. Still, it’s hard to miss the moments of sublimity, when the enormous melodic sweeps tangle with the harshness of the guitars and rolling thunder of the drums and really snag at the imagination. The ambition, talent and vision of this band will definitely see them meet with even greater success in the future.
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