Nottingham, England. Two things come to mind when I think of this locale: 1) really bad animations and live action films about Robin Hood and 2) dark forests with lycanthropes. So when I heard WOLVENCROWN hails from said infamous environs, I wasn't so surprised. The five-piece Black Metal - sometimes Atmospheric, most times Melodic - band formed in 2015, released their debut, self-titled EP in 2017; a full-length album, "Of Bark and Ash," in 2019; and their second EP, "A Shadow of What Once Was," on February 26, 2021. They have cycled through two vocalists before guitarist Nick took on double duty (guitars and vocals).

 "A Shadow of What Once Was" comprises three tracks: two of the Melodic Black ilk and one Atmospheric, though some may say it is less Atmospheric and more uninspired synth rambling. The first two tracks, parts one and two of the title track, are superb artifacts of extremely well-produced SWBM. Track three, "Coming to an End," is interesting in both the American and British sense. I'm sure it has its purpose and there are some who will think it's the best track on the EP . . . okay, no one will think that. Let's try this: I am told you should never discourage initiative, so kudos to WOLVENCROWN for testing the boundaries. Lessoned learned, let's move on please.

With that said, let's focus on tracks one and two. Nick's dry but powerful vocals make you wonder why they just didn't start with him covering vocals from the beginning. Great stuff there. The twin guitars of Nick and Jack are also stellar, performing a wicked dance of distorted tremolo set to Matt's percussive phrasing, which at times is metronomic and at others feverish. Reece's bass is there but hard to discern. And if you're thinking I left out Will on keyboards, he provides an underlayer to both parts 1 and 2, sets the intro and outro of "part 2," and pretty much is all of track three, "Coming to an End."

The album cover art is by Joan Llopis Doménech from Valencia but residing in Scotland. His artwork is wide ranging from fauna to folkloric to metal. His pedigree of album covers reads like the index of the "The Silmarillion," just a whole bunch of names that I'm sure are made up but could actually be Elven or Norwegian. At any rate, good stuff. Go look him up.

If "A Shadow of What Once Was" was in a gladiator scenario, the EP would get enough thumbs up to live to fight another day, though it might have a bit of a limp. If you are a returning WOLVENCROWN fan, the first two-thirds of the EP will be familiar ground. The last third is definitely a departure from familiar paths, which isn't always a bad thing.