Trident Wolf Eclipse (stylized ·TRIDENT·WOLF·ECLIPSE·) is the sixth full-length studio album by Swedish black metal band Watain. The album was released on January 5, 2018, through Century Media Records. The album marks a significant shift away from the progressive style of Watain's previous album, The Wild Hunt, and a return to their earlier more traditional and aggressive black metal sound. According to frontman Erik Danielsson, the album title should be read as three separate words which were chosen to represent symbolic concepts which the band consider central to their music. Trident Wolf Eclipse received generally favourable reviews from music critics upon release.
Background
In an interview with Decibel, frontman Erik Danielsson stated that the death of the band's close friend and collaborator Selim Lemouchi was one of "the most important thing that happened to the band" between The Wild Hunt and this album. He stated that "there's no hiding the fact that in between The Wild Hunt and this album we had to bury one of our members and go to his funeral together. [...] It perhaps underlines the gravity of the album and that this is not about fucking around. This is not a game. This is life and death. This is what Watain are about." Many of the lyrical themes which focus on empowerment and the attainment of force were influenced by the band's experience touring with Deströyer 666 in the years following the release of The Wild Hunt.
Release, promotion
The band announced on August 3, 2017, that their sixth full-length studio album would be released on January 5, 2018. On October 31, 2017, the band released "Nuclear Alchemy" as a single on 7-inch vinyl and digital formats, as well as a music video directed by Claudio Marino of Artax Film. The single also features the B-side "Beyond", originally by the Hungarian black metal band Tormentor, which does not appear on the album itself.
Musical style, writing
The album's writing process was greatly influenced by the death of the band's close friend Selim Lemouchi of The Devil's Blood, who committed suicide in 2014, and the band dedicated this album to him. Danielsson has said that "There [were] a lot of very powerful things in our bond, and I think a lot of that force and that bond made it into the album as a direct channeling of his ferocious spirit and fiery way of being. I definitely think those things are why Trident Wolf Eclipse sounds so ferocious."
Lyrically, Danielsson also explained that the album is a continuation of the themes explored on the band's first album, Rabid Death's Curse. "They're very much about the exploration of something that appears to you as darkness, something that seems utterly chaotic and unknown. [...] what they all have in common is that they explore the idea of empowerment and the attainment of force". All the band's members were involved in writing material for the album, but Danielsson stated that "it was Pelle [Forsberg] who contributed most with shaping the album in terms of atmosphere and general approach. Håkan [Jonsson] also wrote material, as per usual, including what I consider to be one of the record’s most central songs; “Towards the Sanctuary”." With regards to the five-year gap between the release of The Wild Hunt and Trident Wolf Eclipse, he has also stated that "we proceeded at our own pace and as a result broke our customary three-year cycle – which felt good, like the uprooting of all patterns eventually does."
Critics have noted that the album marks a significant change in musical direction for the band compared to their previous album, The Wild Hunt. Decibel described the album's sound as "harsh and austere", and wrote that "If The Wild Hunt was an epic and expansive attempt at the immortal, Trident Wolf Eclipse is all ritualistic and instinctive furies." PopMatters compared the album to Marduk's Panzer Division Marduk, and described the album as "a traditionalist album for Watain; they have focused on straight-for-the-throat Swedish black metal without any stylistic detours."