Thorns on Thy Oaken Throne

Even though there are only two tracks on this 7” vinyl, the band is able to provide the listener with varying facets of their oeuvre and I cannot say that this is good. So, what is going on here?

Well, Wings play death metal but with different interpretations. There is the very slow played style with some doom facets, while the other is of a much faster sort. Does such a combination go along very well? Of course not! Under Autumn Trees has a really cool and heavy as hell main motives. It is melancholic but also powerful and the deep growls of the vocals complete very dark atmosphere; Warhammer (Germany) but slower and a larger emphasis on death metal; some ideas remind me further on The Sisters of Mercy, please do not ask me why. Fine, some may say, the band is able to play some intense music here. This might be the impression gained from the first part of the track, but as it progressed into a faster played one the atmosphere is gone and the listener baffled about what is going on here. A Canticle To Forlorn is even worse as the tempo is generally higher and slow part plays only a minor role now. The Finns are even less able to create a convincing approach here, as the faster parts are too bland and lack of fascination. They are simply too ordinary, too commonplace and too shallow and therefore unable to reach the quality of the other facet of this ep.

Wings do not offer a sound approach here. Those differing passages simply do not work together and it would have been neat to see these separated from each other and not thrown together. So, even though there are some really nice moments – those doom-influenced ones – the overall quality is wanting. The production of this release, which is a bit raw and unbalanced – the vocals are occasionally too dominant, especially in A Canticle To Forlorn – has little influence on the quality of this music, as the basic approach by Wings is the one to drag it down.

Note: I am quite satisfied with my vinyl-rip of this ep. Something I cannot say of the one I did on the Limbonic Art Box. So, at least in this respect (the disk) there is not much to complain about.

Most people associate death metal with Sweden and America. Even though there is no denying the huge number of bands that those nations have birthed, Finland had a plethora of originality. When it comes to Finland and death metal, most people think Demilich. Demilich wasn't the only bad that starved from the typical death metal sound though. Many original ideas lurked in Finland's death metal underground. Wings is one of the bands who exerted this originality.

The music of this EP is quite out of the death metal norm. At times when listening to this album you think to yourself, "am I listening to a black metal album?" Just look at the title of the EP, it screams black metal. Melodic solos and dark depressing riffs are common on this EP. This EP is not as thrashy as most death metal of the time. Even though most of the music is outside the death metal norm, the vocals are well within it. They sound similar to older immolation vocal, but a bit more from the throat than stomach. There are also clean spoken vocals present in parts. The album also has the presence of keyboards which are used effectively.

If you are looking for something outside the stream of generic sounding death, I would recommend this. If you are growing tired of simply sticking to the classics, I would recommend this. Heck, if you are a black metal fan looking to get into death metal, I would recommend this. I look forward to listening to their full-length.