Are there two things that go together better than black metal and wolves? Probaly not. Wolfen imagery has been a part of black metal since the earliest days of the Norwegian underground (Ulver, anyone?), and is almost as totemic as the inverted cross. The new black metal band Canis Dirus takes this a step further by taking on the prehistoric Dire Wolf as their mascot and namesake; this beast was always one of my favorite Ice Age megafauna when I was a kid devouring books on prehistoric animals, so Canis Dirus get instant cool points for the name and concept. Musically, these guys are pretty kick-ass as well. The band is a duo from Minnesota, one of whom is Todd Paulson, head of the excellent black metal/experimental label God Is Myth Records and the guy behind the one-man black metal/ambient/folk bands Uvall and Dormant. Their strain of black metal is heavily imbued with a somber autumnal atmosphere, evocative of Midwestern tundra and evergreen woodlands, with a sound formed from woozy, low-fi guitars, delicate acoustic strum, a pulsating murky drum sound, and hissing cymbals awash in reverb. The songs on their first album A Somber Wind From A Distant Shore will be familiar to fans of Burzum and Xasthur, especially with the subtly out-of-tune arpeggios and deformed minor-key melodies that buzz throughout the album. But there's also a streak of wicked acid blues that runs throughout this disc, which you can hear in the last few minutes of "Joyless and the Self Fulfilling Prophecy" and the haunting extended solo in "Garden of Death", soaring, soulful bluesy solos that have a bit of a David Gilmour feel. The vocals, on the other hand, are harsh, inhuman shrieks, the swooping cry of a falcon sweeping through the thick foggy atmosphere, reminiscent of the anguished unintelligible howls of Nattramn from Silencer; this strange vocal style is later accompanied by looped samples of liturgical choirs that add to overall creepiness of the album. Canis Dirus's debut is an amazing slab of mid-paced black metal that combines grim, depressive buzz with some searing psychedelic guitar, and is definitely one of my favorite new USBM discs.