December Wolves has a very interesting evolution as far as Black Metal bands from the United States go. A similar one to Dodheimsgard if I could make the best example out of this. The debut album has a more Traditional Black Metal and in some parts folksy structure to it, topping it off with subtle but verbose synths. The sophomore album is more thrash oriented but still has the Black Metal in tact with the main component of their sound, finally finishing their discography with an Industrial Black Metal record similar to the later stuff by Dodheimsgard like ‘666 International’ or even ‘Supervillain Outcast’.
The debut ‘’Til Ten Years’ remains my favorite. Maybe due to the fact I have a strong love for stuff like the first couple of Satyricon albums, Enslaved and even Emperor’s ‘In The Nightside Eclipse’. This fusion makes this album quite a standout from the United States Black Metal scene in following a more at the time traditional path that the Norwegian bands took. Riffs soar and engage in blazing fast speed as if it was in a blizzard. Many tunes will throw in unexpected moments through its duration. Take a song like ‘The Night that I Died’ a song that while has the basis of the sounds taken from bands such as the aforementioned mentioned acts like Satyricon and Emperor but will often pass its arrangement around to different other inspirations of theirs. The song starts off with an Immortal-esque rager of a riff. Before transitioning into a more thrashy riff added to the affair. Sort of in the vein of mid to late 80s Kreator. Thrown in after are compositions that include non-traditional instruments such as flutes and usage of acoustic instruments. Many more songs like this are like this on this album. ‘Lycanthropy: Yonder Through Ice Storms’, the title track and ‘Ode to the Master Therion’ gets elaborate and diverse with the songwriting with things like horns, clean vocals and more usage of non-traditional instruments as discussed previously.
This album is quite a fairly obscure release with a familiar and comforting sound for Black Metal fans who are into this style of Black Metal. Unfortunately, not repressed by any label to my knowledge but the band put up most of their early releases up for free on Bandcamp if this is an album you’re willing to hear.
