It was just a few days ago that I was sitting around remembering how I haven’t listened to a whole lot of folk metal this year, and I was truly devastated. I’ve had some tremendous listens from the style this year from the likes of Arallua, Wormwood, and Finsterforst, but I need more! I searched Bandcamp for some time trying to find something that sounded half-decent, and that’s when I stumbled across Wandering Oak who’s new album was more than what I was looking for in so many ways.

I was expecting this album to have a lot more folk elements thrown into it when I saw that cover art, but what Wandering Oak had in store was pretty different than anything I was expecting when I first hit that play button. Sure, there are plenty of folk pieces strewn throughout “Passage Elemental” and they’re truly awesome in every capacity, but it’s how well they work with everything else that’s brought to the table that really astounds me. Normally, we would expect a work of folk metal nowadays to be either just straight material of its own kind or in some sort of collaboration with black metal, and while that’s not far from the truth when it comes to Wandering Oak’s latest work, it’s far from the whole scope of it all. “Passage Elemental” accomplishes the hard feat of working in all sorts of elements from thrash, progressive, and even heavy metal that comes together so amazingly well that it’s damn near impossible for me not to consider calling Wandering Oak one of the more innovative acts of their style right alongside bands like Whispered and Cemican who are pushing the very boundaries of folk metal itself, and just one spin of “Passage Elemental” is enough to show us that these guys aren’t here to fuck around. The focus is still very much put on that blackened folk core, and it shines magnificently in every capacity! Wandering Oak can just as easily lumber forth with great power stirring in the background before just as easily lurching forward with immense speed and precision to show us that they very much can cover the entire spectrum of the soundscape they call home, and I can’t help but it all of it right up! The whole of this creation is surprisingly delectable in every capacity, and I can’t help but see these guys honing their craft to make it into an even deadlier weapon as time goes on.

Hands down, this is definitely one of the most interesting albums of its kind that I’ve heard ever since the last album of the aforementioned Whispered, and if you aren’t aware of how much of a big deal that is in my terms, it’s pretty fucking big. I can’t hear nothing but greatness listening to this album and I will gladly wait for years and years to see what Wandering Oak can bring back to the table as they take time to really hone their music that’s something to be heralded and awed at. “Passage Elemental” is an already amazing album that has given this band the right to a damn good following, and I can’t help but encourage any other followers of the world of folk metal to join me in loving this work and patiently awaiting its successor in all of its assured glory.

LISTEN to “Passage Elemental” on Bandcamp here.

LIKE Wandering Oak on Facebook here.