Chaos Sedated #167 ( Of Earth And Sun, Trepaneringsritualen, Chelsea Wolfe)

It’s been an interesting five years for Chelsea Wolfe (has it really only been five years since The Grime and the Glow?). Abyss is her fifth album, not counting a live album, an EP, and her two collaborative projects with King Dude. It’s hard to believe that the neofolk guitar-strummer who we first fell in love with has become such a gothic heavy metal goddess. Or perhaps it’s not so hard to believe.

 

If you worried that getting an extra helping of public notice in association with Game of Thrones might, for some reason, prompt Wolfe to soften her tone in some way, allow me to set your mind at ease. Her album earns its title of Abyss. It doubles down on the industrial elements of Pain Is Beauty and throws in enough growling bass and massive down-tuned guitars for a legitimate metal album.

The album welcomes you in with the distorted thunder of synth drums in “Carrion Flowers,” flowing into the actual doom metal of “Iron Moon.” It’s no mistake that these songs are not only the first two tracks on the album, but were the first two singles released as well. Wolfe’s ethereal voice is the counter to the instrumentation. The drums and guitars sound aggressive and insistent; Wolfe’s voice comes across as drowned in melancholy, and is perhaps even a bit resigned. I don’t mean to give the impression that this is in any way apathetic music—there’s emotion in every syllable—but even on Pain Is Beauty, there was a particular bare-fanged fury in songs like “Feral Love” and “House of Metal” that motivated an active response. Abyss is simply crushing. Play this album on a rainy day and watch whatever plans you had evaporate as you stare through the window for an hour.