The Wild Hunt (Watain album)
| The Wild Hunt | ||||
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| Studio album by Watain | ||||
| Released | 19 August 2013 | |||
| Recorded | January-May 2013 | |||
| Studio | Necromorbus Studio, Blueflame Productions Studios, Uppsala Studio 33, Toivala Studio Sound, Kuopio |
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| Genre | Black metal, heavy metal | |||
| Length | 61:29 | |||
| Label | Season of Mist, Century Media | |||
| Producer | Tore Stjerna, Watain | |||
| Watain chronology | ||||
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| Singles from ' | ||||
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| Professional ratings | |
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| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| About.com |    |
| AllMusic | |
| Blabbermouth | 8.5/10 |
| Exclaim! | 9/10 |
| Loudwire | |
| Metal Hammer | |
| MetalSucks | |
| Pitchfork | 6.7/10 |
| Spin | 7/10 |
| Ultimate Guitar | 6/10 |
The Wild Hunt is the fifth studio album by Swedish black metal band Watain. It was released through Century Media on 19 August in Europe and 20 August in USA. The cover art was painted "in oil and mixed materials" by Zbigniew M. Bielak, who was also responsible for the artwork of Lawless Darkness. The album sold around 2,700 copies in the United States in its first week of release, and was the best-selling album in their home country of Sweden on the week of its release, making it the band's highest sales and chart debut to date. Stylistically the album represents a development of Watain's established black metal sound, incorporating influences from heavy metal, doom metal, and progressive metal. It is also the first Watain album to feature vocalist Erik Danielsson performing clean vocals.
Watain's previous album Lawless Darkness was a significant critical and commercial success for the band. It earned the band their first Swedish Grammi for 'Best Hard Rock' album in 2011, and the album's single 'Reaping Death' was certified gold in Sweden by the IFPI for sales in excess of 10,000 copies. Following the success of Lawless Darkness, as well as notable live performances at Wacken and in 2012, the band signed with Century Media Records in November 2012, confirming that their fifth full-length album would be released through the label in 2013. The Wild Hunt is Watain's first album released on Century Media, and their first release on a major record label.
Music critics have noted that represents some significant stylistic changes compared to the band's previous albums. AllMusic's Gregory Heaney wrote that the band "continues to bend and expand the form, tempering the icy chill of classic black metal with atmospheric touches, creating an experience that feels epic and sprawling compared to the suffocating sounds one typically associates with the genre. By adding in touches of doom, prog, and symphonic metal, Watain is able to push the boundaries of black metal while still keeping things on the extreme end of the spectrum, providing them with a kind of accessibility that doesn't require them to sacrifice any of the more terrifying aspects of their sound in the process."Stereogum's Michael Nelson compared the band's progression on this album to Metallica, and this album to Metallica's 'Black Album', writing that "the similarities are striking: The Wild Hunt is Watain’s most straightforward collection, their most traditional rock-based collection; it’s also a tremendous leap, from the lofty, daunting — and perhaps inaccessible — peaks previously scaled by the band into a wide, deep, very big pond."
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