Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Artist: Wolf
Label: Century Media
Release: 2014
Duration: 47:14
Rating: 4/5
Wolf, from the Swedish city of Orebro, were a hell of a shot in the arm for the metal scene at the turn of the millennium with their self-titled debut from 2000! Back then, music audiences who’d been leaning toward the noisy genres were getting more interested in melodic ideas in metal again. Power metal blossomed, bursting at the seams with albums from countless new bands trying their hand at the genre. The long-forgotten German bands of the eighties »turned green« again, and the »speed« metallers of the old American school made a comeback. And right in the middle of all that, Wolf showed up on the scene with their debut.
Wolf stood out a bit back then, since they were one of the few whose sound came very close to the elements of the British NWOBHM bands. Sure, early on Wolf could come across as almost too naive at times, and downright childish in how openly they copied the heroes who took metal into a new era at the turn of the seventies into the eighties. But compared to the rest of the fresh bands, most of whom were trying their luck in power metal, it was exactly that »difference« that made them so much more likable and interesting.
The years rolled by, and the band, with all their stubbornness, kept improving. Somewhere around the album »The Black Flame« (2006), then through its follow-up »The Ravenous« (2009) and the excellent »Legions of Bastards« (2011), they grew into a band worthy of all respect! »Devil Seed« is the band’s seventh studio album overall, and they keep sticking to the proven, effective formula of reviving NWOBHM elements and carrying them into new times, in a production-wise »updated package«, of course. In Wolf’s case, all of it filtered through the Scandinavian way of understanding what metal is about. The lyrics are typical for the genre. Full of occult stuff, persecution mania, raging inner and outer demons that suck blood, curses, spells of mad manipulators and witches. The title “devil’s seed” covers pretty much all of it! The album is once again decked out in all the gloom the metal genre demands. Scandinavians know how to summon mysticism and wrap it up beautifully in everything they do, and Wolf don’t hide that in their element. Not on the new album either.
The new album is packed with excellent old-school guitar phrases that, in their sincere heartfelt way, give you goosebumps instantly. It’s not hard to guess that the arrangements are again craftily seasoned with classic guitar harmonies in thirds, yet another inherited NWOBHM trademark, while the songs are commanded by the excellent, soulful, authoritative vocals of Niklas Stålvind, the band’s only original and founding member still in the lineup. The songs have a fascinating dynamic, thanks to a heap of mood switches. Not only have these driven Scandinavians once again strung together a bag full of catchy links between polished verses and choruses, they’ve also served up a great helping of mid-eight passages that keep the songs impressively tight, even though they’re built from a succession of many decorative ideas from both guitarists, who still manage to keep the arrangements compact. The solos remain a real treat of the listening experience! There’s no room for boredom, not even for a second, let alone indifference, with all the fury unleashed on this record. The album is devilishly down to earth and fatally attractive. It has a demonic charm and lures you into the frost of doom with ease. Songs like Skeleton Witch are especially charged with the poison of vampirism, soaked in the spells of a crazy woman who hunts victims and makes skeleton trophies out of them. Or right after it, the fantastic Surgeons of Lobotomy, where you’ll start screaming in pain as a drill rips through the seams of the skull in a living body. The devil’s dance punishes with Biblical inspiration and the deadly dust of Job in the excellent closing phantasmagoria called Killing Floor, a title the “Iron Maiden flyer” Bruce Dickinson sang about long ago too, on his studio masterpiece »Chemical Wedding« (1998).
So, Swedish heavy metal revivalists Wolf have delivered the most mature work of their career with their new release, passing the tough test of holding the quality bar set by its predecessor »Legions of Bastards« with flying colors. It only proves that Wolf have never made albums by force or under the pressure of record label contract demands. Wolf are perfectionists, and the focus of their musical vision is to reach a wicked, gloomy, ultimately dark chill of eerie conspiracy and occult moods, diligently balanced with a high level of melodic accessibility, a predatory combination, you could say, of melody and punch, of mocking devilry that crawls under your skin in an instant. If you like old-school metal, flawlessly repackaged with that (almost proverbial) Scandinavian care, then the new album »Devil Seed« is a record that will definitely do more than spruce up your home CD collection. Let’s hope Wolf get picked for the next tour of metal veterans Saxon, just like in 2003, when the wet-behind-the-ears upstarts Wolf opened the shows for Saxon and presented their second studio album »Black Wings« (2002).
Lineup
Niklas Stålvind- vocals, guitar
Simon Johansson – guitar, backing vocals
Anders Modd – bass
Richard Holmgren – drums
Production
Jens Bogren
Tracklist
1. Overture In C Shark (2:15)
2. Shark Attack (3:27)
3. Skeleton Woman (4:52)
4. Surgeons Of Lobotomy (4:08)
5. My Demon (3:59)
6. I Am Pain (3:38)
7. Back From The Grave (4:25)
8. The Dark Passenger (5:35)
9. River Everlost (5:20)
10. Frozen (4:14)
11. Killing Floor (5:21)
