Hunter's Ground - No God But the Wild

By Natalie Zina Walschots. Appalachian black metal project Hunter's Ground recorded their debut full-length in the heart of the Virginia wilderness. No God But the Wild was recorded in a single 23-hour session using generator-powered equipment

By Natalie Zina Walschots. Originally published by Exclaim.


Appalachian black metal project Hunter's Ground recorded their debut full-length in the heart of the Virginia wilderness. No God But the Wild was recorded in a single 23-hour session using generator-powered equipment. The result is a raw, almost desperate effort, worn raw at the edges and numbed by exhaustion, but still pulsing with a primitive, starving energy.

This is a hardscrabble record, an attempt to capture the vibrant, unkind wildness of the landscape. Appalachia is in many ways the North American equivalent to the great European forests of the past, an expanse large enough for people to escape into or be consumed by. No God But the Wild primarily pays homage to the more ravenous and dangerous character of nature, but there are also moments that celebrate the tender and sublime, like "Speaking in the Tongues of Trees."

The unsophisticated production serves as an effective foil to the reverence that Hunter's Ground have for their subject matter. No God But the Wild reminds us that, as surrounded and comforted as we are by technology, the natural world remains a wild, hungry thing.