Black metal fights to keep the genre “pure” (lo-fi, three-chord nastiness), while struggling to evolve. Sweden’s Watain lunges forward with acceptable BM dogma without sacrificing its sinister raw power. “De Profundis,” “Outlaw” (with its Spanish guitar intro), and snarling single “All That May Bleed” erect angular guitar riffs and swirling arrangements into a skeletal edifice for blood-covered frontman Erik Danielsson to climb vocally like a spider. “They Rode On” saddles up Gothic majesty, while “Sleepless Evil” erupts drillbit guitar. Watain’s secret weapon: unusually groove-oriented drums. While no radical rethink, The Wild Hunt boosts black metal up the evolutionary ladder. ***.5

This article appears in August 2 • 2013.

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Michael Toland started writing about music in 1988 on the Gulf Coast, moved to Austin in early 1991, and has inflicted bylines upon the corporeal and digital pages of Pop Culture Press, The Big Takeover, Blurt, Amplifier, Austin.citysearch, the Austin American Statesman, Goldmine, Sleazegrinder, Rock & Roll Globe, High Bias, FHT Music Notes, and, since 2011, The Austin Chronicle.