May 9, 20232 min read

Primordial Arcana In The Flesh: Wolves In The Throne Room in Los Angeles

The black metal ensemble spellbind throughout a smoke-filled tour closer.

wolves in the throne room, black metal — Photograph by Ekaterina Gorbacheva

Text, Photographs by Ekaterina Gorbacheva (@ekaterinagorbacheva.art) at

The Regent on May 6, 2023:

It's been nearly two years since Wolves In The Throne Room released Primordial Arcana (Relapse Records) — a truly wondrous self-contained body of work that found the Olympia, Washington ensemble at their most invested, musically speaking. Though one could argue the album stands as a culminating act, it's but one step towards an ever-growing discography that unfolds further with each passing entry, as our conversation with mastermind Aaaron Weaver would illustrate. Audiences across the West Coast had an opportunity to experience Primordial Arcana in the live setting over the past several days and on May 6th, Los Angeles would be the host.

Apt for the showing that Wolves put on, Hulder excelled as openers to the West Coast trek and their Regent performance was nothing short as grand. Like our headliners, the black metal unit hails from the PNW and understands atmospheric immersion well, using melody and tempo as instruments to their world-building. With appetites for majestic black metal met, Wolves walked on amidst smoke, shadows, and symbolic mic stands.

An eerie instrumental set the tone early on and the glorious Mountain Magick soon followed, erupting from the depths as an epic to behold. Primordial Arcana's lead single continued into Spirit of Lightning, which maximized its already towering scope. Wolves don't simply perform; they enrapture and astound. As incense burns, the band tap into all five senses and uplift every soul in the audience. Interludes split the newest tracks from the cemented gems, gems that included Angrboda and Prayer of Transformation among others that placed the band on a pedestal among the country's black metal counterparts. Each offering was as expansive and as tantalizing as its studio version, speaking highly to the longevity and breadth of the band's celebrated output. There's few with the power of Wolves stateside to make a mid-sized venue like The Regent feel like an elegant orchestra hall through music, visual identity, and atmospheric intentionality.