State of the Art: Idaho – Wolvserpent

*This is part of our State Of The Art series, showcasing bands every Monday from the featured State*

This month’s State is Idaho!

Unfortunately, today closes our State of the Art: Idaho series. Such a diverse and truly spectacular Metal scene has allowed us all a plethora of incredible choices to spotlight. When searching for bands I ran across so many deserving bands and even had one land in my lap after they read an article posted about one of their contemporaries the week before. Good stuff! Really have to admire the apparent friendly rapport and unity among bands. Not to denigrate any of the fine bands covered this month, I saved my de facto favorite for last. This week’s spotlight goes to the first band I picked up this month called Wolvserpent.

Wolvserpent is the collaborative effort of classically trained drummer, percussionist and violinist Brittany McConnell and self taught guitarist and vocalist Blake K. Green. Wolvserpent started in 2001 under the moniker of Pussygutt as kind of a light hearted title for two very young people wanting an emotional release of the music caged in their collective heads. Once this duo developed the sound they were after, the aforementioned name did not fall with the same force their music did and the name was changed to the much more ominous and fitting Wolvserpent in 2009. After spending a year of recording, they released Blood Seed, solely on vinyl under the 20 Buck Spin Record label in 2010. The following year, Gathering Strengths was released as a double CD containing the remaster of Blood Seed by Mell Dettmer (Sun 0))), Boris, Earth) and, then sold out, Gathering Strengths EP on Crucial Blast. As fan and critics jaws dropped, Wolvserpent began touring extensively before releasing Perigaea (Demo) in 2012. Once this demo had been toured, tweaked and developed into their epic vision, Perigea Antahkarana was released in 2013 as another double CD and their first on Relapse Records. Some three years later, Wolvserpent has completed their 40 minute, single track masterpiece entitled Aporia:Kāla:Ananta which was first performed at Treefort Music Fest alongside Noah from Sol y Nieve and Parker from Druden in March of 2016.

With influences said to be Dead Can Dance, Bathory, Arvo Part, Gyorgy Ligeti, Henry Gorecki and La Monte Young, Wolvserpent has been categorized as Atmospheric, Spirtual, Minimalist, Ambient Black Metal, Death Metal, Classical, Soundscape, Folk, Doom and Drone. When first seeing this wide birth of sub-genre categorization, I immediately had a pre-concieved notion of some chaotic, sanctimonious, self-aggrandized garage band made up of Mid-Western hipsters. Thankfully, this could not be any further from the truth. After extensively listening to their entire catalog, the classification is completely accurate in that Wolvserpent completely transcends genre categorization. Honest and emotionally supercharged, they take the listener on a writhing journey into one’s own psyche; bringing up disturbing and ominous wraiths of denied darkness and discord one minute and be laced with undisguised, sad beauty the next. Thick layers of impassioned atmosphere are provided by an array of strings, drones, classically influenced dissonance, woodwinds and loops of natural sounds to create an utterly unique experience that is easily colored by minute by minute and day by day situational attitudes and outlooks. A sludgy Doom-ish dream one day and a disturbing, hellish nightmare the next. There is just so much depth to the music. Honestly, I have never been struck from this angle by any other band I can remember. Coming from a duo?!? Unbelievable! Development of their sound over the course of their many releases is also extremely interesting. The experimental aspect of the music has been polished into an organic gem within their extremely refined tone and direction, so far hitting its zenith with Aporia:Kāla:Ananta. Presented as a single track, the full genius of McConnell and Green come to brilliant fruition. Needing no breaks to switch directions and/or sound, their latest release is stunning in its range and breadth, spotlighting the distillation of years of diligence and introspective musical insight. With never a dull moment, the album should sate all Metal fans with an open mind to wrap their minds and emotions around this thick overture. Really, really incredible album and one that I am extremely happy to have run across. Gained a huge new fan! Give them a listen below and then throw them some support. It would be a crime for music this good to die out because of lack of support. I already bought mine…