Photo: Bill Crisafi
When Chelsea Wolfe’s last album, Abyss, was released in 2015, we weren’t that won over by the hype. It was perfectly fine, but our favorite performance by her was on Russian Circles’ “Memorial,” the first time the band used a vocalist on a song. However, the goth/folk artist had plenty of fans, including many metalheads that were won over by her voice and guitar work. She’s just announced her next album, Hiss Spun, and preceded it with “16 Psyche,” which is simultanousely sludgy, heavy and beautiful.
Perhaps it’s the inclusion of Troy Van Leeuwen (Queens of the Stone Age, Failure) that steps things up, but Wolfe does fine on her own, starting the song off with a mournful guitar riff. Van Leeuwen’s accompanying lead guitar work is, of course, excellent however, and this is probably the most straight-ahead metal-leaning thing we’ve heard from Wolfe.
Hiss Spun will be released on September 22nd on Sargent House and can be preordered here.
