Chelsea Wolfe once named her five favourite metal albums: “My earliest heavy influences”
You’d be hard-pressed to find a contemporary artist as bewitching as Chelsea Wolfe. This is because the Californian has always been a singular artist, tapping into the otherworldly, metaphysical folk traditions of her native California while also exploring haunting electronic textures, towering industrial, and, at points, the ominous din of metal. She’s an artist with a very distinct sound, but one that is continually evolving.
When Wolfe returned with her first studio album after nearly five years in February’s She Reaches Out to She Reaches Out to She, she showed that such an extensive time had not been wasted. In that span, she’d committed to other projects, including her efforts with metalcore legends Converge, the Mr. Piss record, and of course, composing the score for Ti West’s X alongside Tyler Bates. All saw her burnish her craft. Produced by TV on the Radio’s eminent studio whizz Dave Sitek, the latest effort is by far her most accomplished, cinematic, and intoxicating, with the darkness more palpable than ever before as it drew upon everything from IDM to goth rock.
Wolfe has always had a distinctive sound, thanks to her voice and tendency to play with darker subjects and musical choices. Although this formed thanks to a variety of influences, one area that she is greatly indebted to is metal. Listen to the climax of the recent single ‘Whispers In The Echo Chamber’; it’s steeped in the essence of metal, despite the rest of the song being a fusion of electronic and industrial.
When speaking to The Fader in 2017, Wolfe listed her five favourite metal albums of all time. Chosen in no particular order, they not only outline her inextricable connection to the genre but how far she’s explored it, from its earliest form to offshoots such as black metal and post-metal. Taking it right back to the start, her first choice was Black Sabbath’s sludgy 1972 fourth album, Vol 4. She explained: “One of my earliest heavy influences. Ozzy has one of my favourite voices in music. ‘Snowblind’ and ‘Changes’ are my karaoke jams.”
It doesn’t take much for a listener to note that Wolfe has been greatly impacted by the torment at the heart of Norwegian black metal. While the movement is controversial for obvious reasons, musically, Gorgoroth’s 2003 effort, Twilight of the Idols, stands out to her. This mainly concerns the piercing vocals of former frontman Gaahl. She said: “Gaahl’s scream around three and a half minutes in on ‘Of Ice and Movement’ is the ultimate comforting white noise, and it makes me feel free.”
Perhaps the most significant album that Wolfe picked was Sun O))) and Scott Walker’s overlooked 2014 collaboration, Soused. Not only was this the partnership the metal community didn’t know it needed, and the last one was released during the legendary Walker’s life, but Wolfe’s love for this convergence of opposites displays the perspective that saw her own juxtaposition of sound form.
“I don’t know if this album is considered metal or not, but Sunn O))) is drone metal at its best and the combination of them with Scott Walker turned out really intense. I think Soused is one of my favourite album titles ever as well — it basically means to be pickled from drinking,” she explained.
Elsewhere, Wolfe picked Deftones’ 1997 second album, Around the Fur. Not only do they share a hometown, but Chino Moreno’s voice, the production value, and the fact that it comprises only classics make it stand out. Surprisingly, she didn’t discover the band until she was nearly 20, but since then, the ‘My Own Summer (Shove It)’ line, “I think God is moving its tongue” has stood out as an all-time great.
The final record Wolfe picked was Neurosis’s 1996 release Through Silver In Blood. While she said it’s hard to choose between the Oakland outfit’s material, this one stands out. She’s also confident they’re “the best live band I’ve seen.”
Chelsea Wolfe’s five favourite metal albums:
- Black Sabbath – Vol. 4
- Gorgoroth – Twilight of the Idols
- Sunn O))) and Scott Walker – Soused
- Deftones – Around the Fur
- Neurosis – Through Silver In Blood
