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| Cover art by Andrei Bouzikov |
Wölfhead, hailing from Spain and formed in 2008, shares members with Graveyard, Between the Frost, and Silence Equals Death. They combine elements from genres far and wide, as Javi, the guitarist puts it “It lies somewhere rock n’roll, heavy-metal, stoner, doom, grunge, black-metal, whatever!”. Although not all the songs carry these styles together, they are all present on the record and the doom/stoner vibe is there throughout most of the opus. Additionally the band also carries Viking-based themes in a couple of their songs, which, in my experience is different for a doom/stoner outfit.
The first track, Journey by the Shaman’s Hand is pretty mellow, made mellower by the vocalist’s use of a style that doesn’t sound unlike something a grunge band would make use of. This tactic on the singer’s part creates a great atmosphere – the drums play their part well keeping a steady, almost tribal beat throughout, and the guitarists lay down some super heavy riffs. Also of note is the use of sound clips throughout the album, including at the beginning of the next song, Cul de Sac. This is actually one of my favorite songs off the album; it sounds a lot like something Motörhead would make, with the aforementioned sound clips and barking vocals in the chorus exclaiming “CUL DE SAC!” The transition from the first song to this track allows the vocalist to show his diversity, going from the grunge style from the first song to this gruff style interspersed with the barking chorus.
The rest of the songs are great as well, but since this band offers up such a plethora of sounds, the listener probably isn’t going to know exactly what’s coming up with the next song, which is one of the reasons why I’m not doing a whole track-by-track for the entire album, I don’t want to spoil the great surprises that await you. This one comes HIGHLY recommended.
[Go to the post to view the Bandcamp player]
