(Andy Synn is ready to be swept off his feet again by The Howling Wind)
Look, by now I’m sure we’re all aware of the big surprise revelation of last week… that’s right, I’m talking about the unexpected, world-shaking return of Linkin Park Pyrrhon The Howling Wind!
Sure, it’s only been two years since their last release – 2022’s Oak EP – but it’s been eleven years since the duo of Tim Call and Ryan Lipynsky actually created a full-length album together (with 2019’s Shadow Tentacles being a solo effort by Lipynsky under the THW moniker).
So, with that in mind, the pair’s new album, Through the Eyes, Past the Sun, has a lot to live up to.
In one sense much of Through the Eyes… continues down the same twisted path the band have always walked, its biting riffs and burly percussive patterns bristling with antagonistic aggression and an ugly, punky energy that spills out of the speakers in a tumultuous, venomous torrent of distortion and rage.
There is, however, one manner – whose effect is both subtle yet striking – where the band’s sixth album definitely differs from its predecessors, and that’s the vocals, with drummer Tim Call now taking over on the mic so that guitarist/bassist/noise-weaver Ryan Lipynsky can focus purely on tormenting the strings (and synths).
And while the impact of this is most obvious when comparing Call’s grisly growl with Lipynsky’s spiteful snarl, it’s the increased use of unsettling atmospheric elements (such as, for example, at the beginning of “Exquisite Gehenna” and the ends of “Reign of Dissolution” and “Shades of Plague”) and squalling, anti-melodic leads which demonstrate that the decision to refocus their efforts this time around has clearly paid off.
Make no mistake though, for all the nihilistic nuances you may (or may not) observe throughout Through the Eyes… – such as the psychotropic dissonance which infuses the doomy finale of “Exalted Entity” or the insidiously infectious melodies of “Sacrament of Sedation”, which recalls the best of the band’s Vortex era – the overwhelming impression you’re likely to take away is one of raw, uncompromising intensity.
I’ve already mentioned, for example, the rampaging auditory assault of “Exquisite Gehenna” and the scorching, blast-furnace belligerence of “Reign of Dissolution” (which together make for a seriously punishing opening pairing) and the grime-soaked, doom-laden grooves of “Exalted Entity”, but there’s rarely a moment – barring the occasional passage of immersive ambient noise whose presence, if anything, only serves to make all the surrounding sound and fury seem even harsher by comparison – when The Howling Wind don’t seem to be trying to live up to their implacable, elemental namesake.
As a result, by the time you reach the climactic closing combo (not counting the bonus cover of Bathory classic “The Return of Darkness and Evil”) of “Mutation of Divinity” and “Dying Star” – the former a furious four minute barrage of lumbering riffs, lurching rhythms, and vulgar vocalisations, the latter a lethal burst of blast-driven fury and strangled-string discordance – you may well find yourselves gasping for breath and desperate for a reprieve from all the raging, relentless extremity.
But, mark my words – like the masochists I know you all are – you’ll likely find yourselves coming back to this one again and again just for the sheer, savage thrill.