Wolves in the Throne Room
Celestial Lineage
Southern Lord
Street: 09.13
Wolves in the Throne Room = Xasthur + Nachtmystium + Deafheaven
I honestly can’t say that, at least in recent memory, there has been a band as polarizing within musical circles as Olympia, Washington’s Wolves in the Throne Room. Completely written off by the more “kvlt” and “tr00” black metal aficionados and thoroughly embraced by shoegazers, WITTR take the very essence of what once was known as black metal and combine it with their own personal tastes and lifestyles, for better or for worse, and Celestial Lineage is an album that demands attention, be it positive or negative. From a completely objective standpoint, this is an excellent listen—combining the straightforward brutality of early Norwegian black metal with droning, somewhat transcendental guitar riffing. Before black metal became trendy and Euronymous rolled over in his grave, this would probably have been a favorite of the black metal underground. Now that black metal has somewhat lost its spark and has become a watered-down caricature of its once demonic self, this record will garner rave reviews from worshippers of My Bloody Valentine. –Gavin Hoffman

The Workhouse
The Coldroom Sessions
Hungry Audio
Street: 09.26
The Workhouse = Explosions in the Sky + Abe Vigoda
This band can’t decide whether it is lo-fi Explosions in the Sky or a lo-fi The National, but maybe that is what they are going for. The first two and a half tracks of this album all sound like shitty covers of each other. When the vocals popped in for the first time halfway through track three, I got a bit excited. I was quickly let down by the lead singer’s Cold Cave, Abe Vigoda ripoff voice, delivering lyrics that equate to an eighth-grade love poem. After that, they jump right back into the instrumental shoegaze again, until the album’s highlight, “The Whistler.” “The Whistler” sounds like what I imagine The National would have sounded like as a high school band and it is actually kind of cool. The band isn’t terrible, but they fail to produce anything of real substance. The Coldroom Sessions is like an entire album of filler songs. –Cody Hudson

Xeno & Oaklander
Sets & Lights
Street: 10.11
Wierd Records
Xeno & Oaklander = Human League + Thievery Corporation + Crystal Castles
The best thing about Sets & Lights is its predictability. It starts off like a blast from the 80s, and sticks to it the whole way through. Everything about it, from the crooning voice of sweet Sean McBride to the electronic melodies, brings Ferris Bueller and The Breakfast Club screaming to the forefront of my mind. The album has its moments. There is a nice balance between male and female voices as the two band members switch off the lead, and also a clear, tenaciously layered texture to the track list. It has all the bells and whistles of a great album—smooth synthesizers, a satiny, male voice and a pulsating drumbeat—but it doesn’t seem to pull through in the “originality” category. The voices, the melodies, and the energy are all good, but not good enough to convince me to listen to it twice. It basically pans out to being just another mediocre, forgettable CD. The 80s electro-band went out of style with scrunchies and Flock of Seagulls, and this band is an excellent reminder of why. This is the kind of CD you listen to once in the dark, most likely alone, and then forget about. –Kylie Cox

Zola Jesus
Conatus
Sacred Bones Records
Street: 10.04
Zola Jesus = Kate Bush + Siouxsie Sioux + Cabaret Voltaire
With artists like Austra, Glasser, and Fever Ray, it’s obvious: Goth is back. It’s time for people to obsess over Nika Roza Danilova’s dark alter-ego, Zola Jesus. At only 22 years old, the opera-trained singer has managed to overwhelm me with emotion on her third and poppiest full-length, Conatus. The one-minute “Swords” opens with glitches and industrious noise, leading into the pounding chill of “Avalanche.” The first glimpse of her vocal range appears on “Vessel,” which rides aside mechanical synths. It is, of course, her big voice that’s so captivating and heart-crushingly powerful. “Blisters, on my hands” Danilova bellows out on “Hikikomori” over Kate Bush-like string arrangements. “Seekir” and “Shivers” echo behind layers of danceable electro-goth beats. Conatus is an anthem and it will tug at your soul, every note and lyric of Zola Jesus is the work of one—the 4’9”, 90-pound Nika Roza Danilova. –Courtney Blair