Shadow World

Author: Primož Novak

Artist: Wolfheart
Label: Spinefarm Records
Release: year_month
Runtime: 46:30
Rating: 4/5

Tuomas Saukkonen has been a man of many bands and projects, the better-known ones being Before the Dawn and Black Sun Aeon. In early 2013 Tuomas decided to wrap up all of them and founded Wolfheart, which he initially claimed rolled everything into one. Looking back at those two outfits, Wolfheart were supposed to be a mix of melodic death metal, doom, black and gothic metal.

On the debut, the blend of Saukkonen’s previous bands showed through to some extent, but melodic death metal was front and center. Not much changed on the second album, even though Saukkonen tried to broaden Wolfheart’s horizons by making it more than a one-man project and inviting other musicians to join in.

Shadow World kicks off with a pleasant piano intro, followed by an aggressive swerve into more death metal territory, complete with blast beats. It’s more than clear that Saukkonen wanted to hold on to the aggressive side of Before The Dawn, which came through best on their last album, Rise of the Phoenix.  The next track, Zero Gravity, goes the same way and, like the opener, throws in a black metal trick or two. At first the album seems set to be uncompromisingly aggressive with plenty of melody, but a calmer mid-tempo track like Last Of All Winters, where acoustic guitar plays a big part, gives the whole record more variety. It stays unpredictable right to the end, closing with the slow, doom-tinged Veri, which shows that Saukkonen hasn’t given up on slow, atmospheric songs. Here the comparison to Black Sun Aeon, or even Finnish doom giants Swallow The Sun, comes up naturally because of the sheer melodicness.

Over a solid 46 minutes, Saukkonen sets out to prove that melodic death metal can carry a pretty epic weight. He’s dodged the kitsch you get with Wintersun. Wolfheart show off their epic side through lovely passages led by piano or acoustic guitar. Otherwise the music is pleasantly melodic and never gets syrupy. Some stretches remind you a lot of Insomnium and Amorphis, at least in the songs that aren’t built on fast tempos. True to the album’s name, the whole thing feels dark, even though some of the melodies sound surprisingly cheerful.

Saukkonen made a smart move bringing other members on board. The drums are more dynamic and faster, and there’s no shortage of soloing either. Beyond that, you can barely pick out anything else. Tuomas’s vocals sound powerful and well preserved, but just like before, they’re pretty one-note.

With Shadow World, Wolfheart deliver melodic death metal that’s either been forgotten or never existed in the first place. Either way, after a fair number of bands and albums over the years, Saukkonen doesn’t sound burned out at all, which gives us plenty of hope for what comes next.

Lineup

Production

Tuomas Saukkonen, Jens Bogren (post-production)

Tracklist