Author: Rok Klemše
Artist: Wolf
Label: Century Media
Release: 2011
Duration: 52:32
Rating: 4/5
Over the last few years we’ve witnessed a huge surge in bands playing old-school 80s heavy metal, complete with spandex, studs, leather and the whole “eighties” package. I don’t know exactly where bands like White Wizzard, Enforcer, Skullfist, Steelwing, Katana, RAM and 3 Inches of Blood (spot the intruder? The dreadful Steelwing, of course!) get such an obsession with an era when most of them were still sitting in their own poop, but I do know that one of the best representatives of the new wave of old-school heavy metal is the Swedish outfit Wolf. What’s more, Wolf put out their debut back in 1999, way ahead of all the revivalists listed above, and they’ve racked up some killer releases since, especially the albums Evil Star (2004) and The Black Flame (2006). Does the new record, Legions of Bastards, join them? Yes, one big fucking yes!
Wolf sink their sharpened spikes in and tear the flesh open with the very first riff of the album’s opening track, Vicious Companions. Wolf throw you straight into a bloodthirsty pack of starving wolves that rips you apart down to the last little bone; just like your head can easily fly off your neck from all the nonstop headbanging while listening to Legions of Bastards. The Swedes’ new release is packed with precisely served riffs, underwear-shredding falsetto screams and high vocals, and breakneck, epic-sounding choruses. Don’t expect any wild innovation, since everything Wolf offer we’ve already heard from Judas Priest and Mercyful Fate, but the Swedes pay tribute to the legends in the best way possible while keeping that much-needed touch of exciting originality. The spirit of the eighties is definitely strong in Wolf, but it’s mainly the modern production and good ideas that keep that spirit from taking over the music completely and swallowing the band’s own identity. That’s thanks to the full arrangements of varied, dynamic songs, enriched above all by well-thought-out riffs, served up mostly by lead guitarist Johannes Axeman (with a fitting surname, no less!). The guitar work and melodies are mighty and sharp as wolf claws, helped by a clean, clear production that doesn’t rob the instruments of their power and aggression, quite the opposite. Axeman gets a hand from Niklas Stalvind, and the duo delivers a diverse set of riffs unique to every single song, so nothing repeats, and every last one is played with everything they’ve got and with full balls (before the next supersonic riff whizzing past bites them off, so give a listen especially to the aptly titled Skull Crusher). Add in lightning-fast “Maiden-style” harmonies and solos (the fantastic showdown in Tales From the Crypt), which are almost baroque in their excess, and the “Painkiller” picture is complete. On top of that, Wolf are distinguished by Stalvind’s phenomenal vocals, the main carrier of the drama and the epic feel. He slips easily into high “Tim Owens” ranges (and feels right at home in King Diamond-style falsetto screams too), while in the mid-range he recalls the slightly raspier voice of “post-Painkiller” Halford. The album may lose a bit of intensity in the second half, since “side B” isn’t as full of earth-shaking heavy metal anthems as “side A”, but it’s saved above all by a fantastic closer, the chilling mini-epic K-141 Kursk, about the most famous Russian nuclear submarine, which sank on August 12, 2000, in the Barents Sea. With its slightly muffled guitar lines and “submerged” vocals (“Can anyone hear our screams!”), it captures the confinement and tragic fate of the 115 submariners incredibly well. And the album is full of moments like that: the brutal Skull Crusher, the aggressive Vicious Companions, and probably the track with the best chorus, the wonderfully “split” Jekyll & Hyde.
Wolf are definitely not the most musically original band around, but Legions of Bastars is a great record of breakneck speed, retro aesthetics, outstanding vocal performance and ripping guitars. Wolf are simply METAL! So spin Legions of Bastards before you see glowing eyes in the dark, and the last thing you feel is sharp claws tearing into your body and the smell of sweet, warm blood filling your nostrils.
Lineup
Anders Modd – bass
Niklas Stalvind – vocals, guitar
Richard Holmgren – drums
Johannes Axeman – guitar, vocals
Production
Pelle Saether
Track list
1. Vicious Companions
2. Skull Crusher
3. Full Moon Possession
4. Jekyll & Hyde
5. Absinthe
6. Tales From the Crypt
7. Nocturnal Rites
8. Road to Hell
9. False Preacher
10. Hope to Die
11. K-141 Kursk
