The veteran black metal wanderers Wolves In The Throne Room formed in Olympia, a beautiful little college town that also happens to be Washington’s state capital. Olympia has a lot of thrift shops and seafood restaurants. It’s a bougie place with hippie signifiers and a vague sense of encroaching methiness. K Records and Kill Rock Stars are both based in Olympia, and Kurt Cobain lived there for a while. Rancid wrote one of their best songs about wanting to get back to Olympia. A lot of great indie and punk bands have called Olympia home over the years: Bikini Kill, Sleater-Kinney, Bratmobile, Beat Happening, the Microphones, G.L.O.S.S. But as proud as that history may be, Wolves In The Throne Room are not a part of any Olympia tradition. They are part of something else.