Location: Brussels
Country: Belgium
Genre: Experimental gothic ambient metal
Full length: Procession
Format: Vinyl, CD, digital
Label: Consouling Sounds
Release date: October 17, 2025
Recorded in a domain Wolvennest created for themselves without outside interference, "Procession" is a captivating tribute to the passing between our mortal world and what lies beyond. In time for Halloween, it was compiled during recording sessions that happened when the band felt like it. It’s an album people are invited to experience if they’re willing to listen closely to what the band’s work spawned and experience the sonic equivalent of mortality like a bad acid trip unfolding before their minds' eyes.
The band describes "Procession" as a double record that does not distinguish between sides A and B of a conventional album, a ceremony surrounded by an uncompromising atmosphere, and a ceremony to death itself. A cinematic fusion of rock, doom rock, ambient music, black metal, gothic rock, and folk that not only crosses genre boundaries but appeals to a diverse range of listeners. They say that by embracing these differences they’re better able to connect with fans at black metal, stoner rock, and doom rock performances.
"Procession" is the methodically portrayed soundtrack to the demise of humanity as a result of its centuries-long exhibition of shortsighted hubris. It begins with the final glimmer of humanity, gradually fading into gloom, hopelessness, and ultimately emptiness. When discordant black metal tremolo playing, repetitive doom metal progressions, psychedelia inspired overtones electronica-like keyboards, and eerie, eldritch vocals in the goth rock style are combined, these disparate forms of musical expression seem to have always belonged together.
A close approximation could be Mayhem meets Bauhaus in a seedy, out of the way club in the outskirts of the city. Whether you're prepared to accompany them or not, "Procession" transports you along on its story in a soporific and hypnotic manner. Its abrupt drop into nothingness is akin to entering the netherworld, where you are thrown into their perception of what the end of the world actually looks like. All around you, this vision is evoked, giving you the sensation of turning into a living corpse. There are no new beginnings this time, just perpetual darkness.
Frontwoman Shazzula's vocals are particularly evocative and ethereal, carrying the material through its varied inspiration like a phantasm that’s both there and not there. The further you follow the band on their journey into emptiness, the more haunting she becomes. In addition, the operatic guest vocals of Hekte Zaren of the global black metal band Adaestuo's on the ambient tune "Tarantism" provide even more nuance to the desolation presented here. Her voice offers a powerful contrast to the accompanying music, akin to Diamanda Galas' blown-back as a black metal vocalist.
In short, Wolvennest takes you on a sorrowful and timeless journe. The music they compose for "Procession" doesn’t belong to any genre or era, as it reaches a point where time and space itself loses all significance. –Dave Wolff
Lineup:
Shazzula: Vocals, keyboards, theremin
Michel Kirby: Guitar
Marc De Backer: Lead guitar
Corvus von Burtle: Guitars, synthesizer
VaathV: Bass
Bram Moerenhout: Drums
Track list:
1. Another Nail
2. Purple Poison
3. The Shadow Of Your Side
4. Damnation
5. Décharné
6. Things That Breathe Are Death
7. Burial
8. Farmadihana
9. Hunters
10. Tarantism
11. The Last Chamber
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