WATAIN STAY SWORN TO THE DARK WITH LAWLESS DARKNESS

At this point in time, you should probably know who Watain are. I mean, MetalSucks did debut the stream of their new album, Lawless Darkness, just a couple of weeks ago. Plus, there was Sworn To The Dark, a devilishly delightful slab of Swedish black metal that hit high marks across the proverbial board with metal critics, bloggers, and fans alike in late 2006/early 2007 (depending on which side of the pond you call home). More recently, there was Watain’s “Fuck The World Tour” in late 2008, which delivered on the promise of everything this guy had ever heard about a Watain live show.

It’s been a long four years since the release of Sworn To The Dark, but Watain has always taken their sweet, collective time putting out full-lengths. The good news, though, is that Lawless Darkness is as good as Sworn to the Dark, even as it manages to feel different thanks to slick recording and the surprisingly melodic, menacing approach this “evil” band commands.

“Malfeitor”’s luscious leads could just as easily mark it as a German power metal song as a black metal tune had vocalist Erik Danielsson not rasped the Christ out of his voice. “Reaping Death” sounds like a future staple anthem of the European circuit, and  the nine-minute-plus “Wolves Curse” wastes not a second of its running time. Indeed, many of these songs are rather long, but never droning.

It’s not an easy task to follow the hype Watain have had to live up to, but with Lawless Darkness they have surely succeeded. It’s only halfway through 2010, but this album will definitely make some marks on the more maniacal, mischievous year-end lists. And if Robert Johnson’s Faustian deal with the devil taught us anything, maybe it’s that the devil works in mysterious ways… and apparently, he digs music.

-BC

(4 1/2 out of 5 horns)