Last summer we had the great pleasure of premiering For the Good of the Realm, the second album by the Idaho-based black metal band Weald & Woe. Fiadh Productions, which released the album, summed it up as combining “the majesty of the medieval era with the ferocity of classic black metal inspired by Obsequiae, Véhémence, Darkenhöld, Immortal, Ensiferum and many others.” We provided our own preview, which included these words:
[T[he album as a whole, when experienced front to back, does seem like a mythic narrative. It includes episodes of dire conflict, driven by punishing drum-blasts, vicious thrashing riffage, and scorching, throat-ripping vocals, but the music also elevates into the magnificence of waving banners and steel shining in the sun, with dramatic synths unfurling above the host and solos that spiral upward and flicker like druid sorcery….
To be sure, the songs also create grim and grievous moods, and moments that might spawn visions of terrible mayhem or corpses strewn across ruined fields. But the overused yet still apt word “epic” keeps coming to mind, because there’s nothing remotely mundane about this music. It’s an elaborate and thoroughly ravishing pageant unfolding on a vast scale, in a time long lost to the ages.
Today we have an excellent occasion to revisit Weald & Woe as we premiere an exhilarating video for an equally exhilarating song named “Wings of Hate“.
“Wings of Hate” originally appeared on a long-soldout 2020 tape split by Weald & Woe and Candlewolf Disciple, recorded when Weald & Woe was the solo project of Artos (Jeff Young). It has subsequently become one of the staples of the band’s live performances, and they decided to re-record it as a full band in the version you’ll hear in the video.
This revised 2024 version will be included as a bonus track on Fiadh‘s forthcoming cassette-tape reissue of Weald & Woe‘s first album, The Fate of Kings and Men, and it will also be released as a Bandcamp digital single tomorrow.
It’s rare for us to host a premiere on a Sunday, but this one we couldn’t resist. For newcomers to Weald & Woe, it’s a great jumping-on point, and for steadfast fans it’s a stirring reminder of why the band’s music is known as “castle metal”.
In the video, you’ll see footage of the band’s electrifying live performances, as well as scenes of magnificent knights slashing at each other with flaming swords. The music also blazes and slashes, and it too is magnificent, though it also takes darker turns.
The song goes full-throttle right from the start, launched by a vivid, whirring riff backed by momentous chords, and then surging ahead with blasting drums, fiery soaring fretwork, and scorching screams. As the title foretells, it sounds fueled by unchained hostility and the intensity of conflict that spills blood.
But as the music evolves and the drums tumble, dismal reverberations occasionally replace the whirring fires, as if exhausted combatants are gathering themselves for another assault — which comes. In that context, the torrid vocals sound like un-bound agonies.
The band also bring in compulsive beats and a vibrant slashing riff that together create a big hook and will get listeners’ heads moving. There’s something feral, freeing, and glorious about that phase, and it becomes even more glorious thanks to a jubilantly swirling guitar solo that itself sounds like the stuff of swords and sorcery.
The song is both heart-pounding and quickly infectious, dynamic and mood-moving, and so is the video as it unfurls.
WEALD & WOE is:
Jeff Young: Guitar, vocals, orchestrations
Brent Ruddy: Guitar & vocals
Zak Darbin: Bass
Isiah Fletcher: Drums
The video (edited by Jeff Young) features Weald & Woe, PenticoKnight, and The Winged Crusader and includes footage courtesy of Logan Charon, as well as PentictoKnight and Lambs Media.
The music was recorded at The Bear’s Den in Boise, and was engineered, mixed, and mastered by Jeff Young.
As mentioned above, “Wings of Hate” will be released tomorrow and can be pre-ordered at Bandcamp now for the noble sum of $1 (but you can pay more!). As further mentioned, it will be included as a bonus track on Fiadh Productions‘ cassette-tape reissue of The Fate of Kings and Men, and that will be released on August 30th. Follow Fiadh and Weald & Woe to get details about that tape and how to get it in the coming days.
“WINGS OF HATE” DIGITAL SINGLE:
https://wealdandwoe.bandcamp.com/album/wings-of-hate
FIADH PRODUCTIONS:
https://linktr.ee/fiadhproductions
WEALD & WOE:
https://wealdandwoe.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/wealdandwoe/
https://www.instagram.com/wealdandwoe/