{"id":911041,"date":"2026-09-27T01:24:19","date_gmt":"2026-09-27T01:24:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/911041\/"},"modified":"2026-09-27T01:24:19","modified_gmt":"2026-09-27T01:24:19","slug":"chelsea-wolfe-the-dark-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/911041\/","title":{"rendered":"Chelsea Wolfe – The Dark Review"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Long sharing an affiliation with the broader metal community, Chelsea Wolfe has carved out an eclectic, compelling career arc. From minimalist drone, folk, and experimental leanings of her early work to her blockbuster doom and metal-tinged explosions on top-shelf albums like Abyss<\/a> and Hiss Spun<\/a>. Wolfe has traversed interesting pathways across a career which has elevated the gifted songstress from cult status to a deservedly higher profile. Wolfe continues challenging her songwriting by examining the darkest corners within the goth, folk, and metal-verses. Aided by a host of collaborators, including Ben Chisolm, Jennifer Declveo, prolific drummer Matt Chamberlain, Queens of the Stone Age\u2019s Troy Van Leeuwen, and Robin Finck (Nine Inch Nails), Wolfe revisits the goth-folk stylings and ominous, melancholic atmospheres forming the cornerstone of her career. Ninth LP The Dark signals the latest Wolfe offering, an addictive gem worth exploring for listeners new and old.<\/p>\n

Firstly, The Dark largely strips away the doomy and industrial layers that coat her heavier material, including 2024\u2019s solid if uneven, She Reaches Out to She Reaches Out to She, returning to the more subdued, folk and acoustic-driven work featured on albums such as 2019\u2019s Birth of Violence<\/a>. Borrowing pieces from Wolfe\u2019s versatile career, including the synth-driven electronic thrums of 2013\u2019s breakthrough album, Pain is Beauty, The Dark showcases an artist with ambitions to continue pushing her boundaries. Though listeners who prefer her more challenging, heavier experimental works (Abyss and Hiss Spun), may be disappointed in the album\u2019s mellower, sedate flow.<\/p>\n

While not one of Wolfe\u2019s heaviest or most experimental albums, The Dark excels through a tighter, more straightforward songwriting approach, without falling into formulaic traps or repetition. Lush and stormy opener \u201cCold\u201d and stripped acoustic gems \u2018The Dark\u201d and \u201cDeath is not the End\u201d stir the emotions and straddle Wolfe\u2019s masterful balance between frosted beauty and brooding melancholy, featuring strong hooks to boot and tearjerking melodies. A succinct and breezy listen, The Dark delivers infectious hooks and impactful melodies and is possibly Wolfe\u2019s most accessible work to date. However, Wolfe\u2019s songwriting is anything but one-dimensional, highlighted by the album\u2019s shifting shades and more energetic, upbeat moments. Electro pulses and darkly sparkling hooks glitter on brooding rock-centric tracks (\u201cSeethe,\u201d \u201cSwallower\u201d), while the seductive earworms on \u201cHalo\u201d get easily lodged in the noggin\u2019, enriched by Wolfe\u2019s strikingly emotive vocals. \u201cTurn the Key\u201d ups the ante, cleverly demonstrating Wolfe\u2019s tension-building and soft-loud dynamics through a brooding, industrial rock and synth-pop lens.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Vocally, Wolfe sounds as confident and comfortable as ever in her skin, her haunting, longing and ghostly tones a slice of liquid gold at the forefront of the album. Driving delicate yet powerful vocal melodies carrying lushly produced and arranged songs, like all her works, you can really feel the pain, sorrow, hint of hope, and scarred emotion bleeding from Wolfe\u2019s voice, the raw emotional depth leaving a lasting impact, such as the solemn beauty and orchestral flair of closer \u201cDancer in the Sky.\u201d Although less sonically dense and heavy than past efforts, the compositions are meticulously detailed and layered with numerous elements, from stripped-back acoustic forays and traditional rock instrumentation to the prominent use of synths and piano, creating a deceptively rich foundation for the listener to unpack. Occasional dips in album flow, lack of heavier, challenging fare, and a polished though disappointingly compressed master are the main drawbacks to an otherwise consistently solid and catchy front-to-back listen.<\/p>\n

Wolfe rarely misses, and The Dark is no exception. Bolstered by tighter, more cohesive songwriting compared to her predecessor, The Dark maintains Wolfe\u2019s stellar track record without resting on her laurels, though mileage will vary depending on listeners\u2019 preference towards Wolfe\u2019s songwriting styles and those enamored with Wolfe\u2019s more sonically and musically daring career twists. A neatly crafted, addictive platter of goth, synth, and folk-tinged alternative rock, The Dark\u2019s addictive, accessible streak demands repeat listens and often teeters on the edge of greatness. And I get the feeling this album will be a grower over time.<\/p>\n

\ufeff<\/p>\n

Rating: 3.5\/5.0
DR: 5 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps MP3
Label: Lorna Vista Recordings<\/a>
Websites: Bandcamp<\/a> | Facebook<\/a>
Releases Worldwide: August 21st, 2026<\/p>\n

\n\tGive in to Your Anger:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Long sharing an affiliation with the broader metal community, Chelsea Wolfe has carved out an eclectic, compelling career…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":911042,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[43409,25316,31236,10734,49,48,314679,105545,75,25661,314680,341,26873,139089,208,209,314681],"class_list":["post-911041","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-43409","tag-3-5","tag-alternative-rock","tag-american-metal","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-chelsea-wolfe","tag-doom","tag-entertainment","tag-folk","tag-lorna-vista-recordings","tag-music","tag-nine-inch-nails","tag-queens-of-the-stone-age","tag-review","tag-reviews","tag-the-dark"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/911041","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=911041"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/911041\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/911042"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=911041"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=911041"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=911041"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}