Wolves in the Throne Room Detail 'Celestite,' Announce West Coast Tour

BY Gregory AdamsPublished Apr 30, 2014

A few months after Washington-based black metal crew Wolves in the Throne Room first announced their impending Celestite LP, the brother band have let loose a few more details on the apparently synth-driven sister set to 2011's Celestial Lineage.

As previously reported, the record will be the first to be released on Aaron and Nathan Weaver's new imprint, though the record label itself has gone through a name change. Originally reported to be called Diadem, the label is now going by the name Artemisia Records, and it will issue Celestite on July 8.

Recording sessions for the five-song set were done with producer Randall Dunn (Sunn O))), Earth) at Seattle's Avast studios, as well as at the Weaver's own Owl Lodge studio in Olympia. The instrumental album apparently strips the band of their usual assault of drums, electric guitars and screams, offering up instead an album mixing synth sounds with guest contributions from French horn player Josiah Boothby, trombonist Steve Moore, and flautists Mara Winter and Veronica Dye.

Evocative song titles include "Bridge of Leaves," "Celestite Mirror" and "Sleeping Golden Storm," with a press release noting that the outfit unearthed have uncovered "a hidden soundscape that is only loosely tethered to their familiar sound."

"To make Celestite, we delved into the subterranean sonics that are buried in the mix of Celestial Lineage," the group had previously said in a statement. "We isolated them, processed them and took this unearthed soundscape as our starting point. Upon this base we recorded an entirely new album. Some melodies from Celestial Lineage are recognizable, but these familiar sounds appear as ghosts, barely tethered to the original compositions."

Samples from the set have yet to be unleashed, but previews from the record are expected to be delivered in the months to come.

In other news, Wolves in the Throne Room have announced a short string of summer tour dates, which bring them over the nearby Canadian border for a repeat appearance at Vancouver's Venue on July 13. You'll see the info for the West Coast trek beneath Celestite's tracklisting.

Celestite:

1. Turning Ever Towards The Sun
2. Initiation at Neudeg Alm
3. Bridge of Leaves
4. Celestite Mirror
5. Sleeping Golden Storm

Tour dates:

7/11 Olympia, WA - Capital Theatre Backstage
7/12 Bellingham, WA - Shakedown
7/13 Vancouver, BC - The Venue
7/14 Seattle, WA - Crocodile
7/15 Portland, OR - Star Theatre
7/17 San Francisco, CA - Slim's
7/18 Santa Cruz, CA - Catalyst Atrium
7/19 San Diego, CA - Che Café
7/20 Los Angeles, CA - Echoplex

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