A world away from Pictureplane, in basically every sense are Wolves In The Throne Room.  Their Black Cascade was released this spring but is just the perfect fall album.  Drenched in the damp chill of a Pacific Northwest autumn it is also a stunning testament to what Wolves in the Throne Room have being aiming at for the past 5 or so years.  Their most fully realized release to date, Black Cascade diverts focus from the symphonic and non metal musical aspects of previous albums.  The four tracks demonstrate a constantly evolving and shifting interplay between the instruments and vocals that, strange to say for a black metal album, can only be called strong songwriting.  Black Cascade is focused, muscular, majestic, rage-full and oh so forsaken.

Another perfect fall album is Songs Of Shame by new urban pastoralists Woods.  Rustic, bearded, and enigmatic, this album is full of primitive flourishes that push the sound away from torch bearing indie rock towards something that is both befuddled and eerie.  They worship at the altars of early 70’s album orientated rock (they cover Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young) and Guided by Voice (even if it wasn’t recorded in someone’s basement in Dayton, it sure sounds like it was).  Within the rambling, jam-like structures, I find catchy as hell melodies that again reminded me of the best GBV work, but it also all felt like a sing-a-long around a campfire.  I was tapping my toes until I noticed the chill wind coming through the trees.