Wold — Freemasonry

Saskatchewan dark lords Wold present a double-vinyl reissue of “Freemasonry,” previously only available on CD. With Fortress Crookedjaw at the helm, Wold have made quite a name for themselves, fusing lo-fi black metal, noise, and drone. Wold rolled through my neck of the woods on the 2012 Scion Rock Fest, but unfortunately I missed them due to having to scurry from venue to venue with artists playing in a variety of locations. I just missed them, but overheard effusive praise of their live performance. Needless to say, I was looking forward to giving “Freemasonry” a spin.

The artwork is unsurprisingly grim. The black and white art (done in charcoal style) depicts a lone shrouded figure walking through a field surrounded by trees. There’s nothing particularly remarkable (or unremarkable for that matter) about it, but it does the dark music at hand justice.
 

This is some bleak sounding stuff. Through ten tracks of varying length (2 to 16 minutes) Wold present dark rumbly noise drone with blown out, lo-fi vocal stylings that vacillate between blackened spoken word meditations and sinister howls. Lyrically, the “Freemasonry” is composed of a series of poems and discourses inspired by Goethe, Plutarch, and Masonic symbolism. The entire album is unrelenting and focused, utilizing repetitive noise patterns to compliment the dark musings. Overall it has a very dirty, and muddy quality that only adds to the music at hand. If the thought of playing your Marduk records through a chain of effects pedals sounds appealing, then I can imagine you’d enjoy “Freemasonry”with delight.
 

While black noise isn’t a genre I’m all too familiar with, I’d have to believe that Wold must be at the forefront. They manage achieve a sound that is both grim and meditating, through an almost formulaic use of rumbling noise and vocals that seethe with disgust. A formula that Wold uses too great effect.