Wolf Blood - II (2019)
It was five years ago that Wolf Blood
let loose their self-titled debut album, and with pressing after
pressing selling their full runs (including the vinyl from Roadburn
Fest-hosting Burning World Records), it seemed like the band's
momentum was picking up just like one of their riff-digging tunes.
As they focused on live shows and a variety of rare merch (count
yourself damn lucky if you've got one of the lightning bolts and
Petrian cross shirts in your collection), it was up to the six songs
of the S/T to keep the torch burning for those outside of WB's tour
radius. Thankfully, the wide range of flavors and styles packed into
the album made that a working solution.
Now the four-piece is back, having
replaced their bassist with one who also does guitar and vocals, and
offering up another six tracks of heavy, grimy metal. Opening up the
new album with “Lesion”, the band lays down an icebreaker of a
hard beat before swinging in the vocals, riding back to the beat, and
then drifting off into looser riff exploration. The composition
quickly establishes that a lot of the musical character from the
first album is still present in force, and that the new bassist slots
right in to the action. “Slaughterhouse” continues the fun by
further blurring out the style boundaries, bringing together stoner
rock, hard metal, and a bit of psych, while letting the focus center
on the energy and flow. With the last track of the A-side, “Kumate”,
they roll up another twisting ride, with drummer Jakob getting some
spotlighting as he trades bashing flourishes with the guitars'
snarls. The largely instrumental nature of the song makes for a cool
way of recentering listeners, while the deeper psych journey of the
song's latter half does solid work in drawing them back into the
bumping groove.
Side B's “Opium” picks right up
from there with still another hooky spine of a riff, alternating
between tranced-out intonations and threatening growls on the vocal
side. Moving quick (at two minutes and change) and hitting hard, it
soon gives way to the more meditative “Story of a Drowning Man”,
which brings probably the slowest drawls from the bass and guitars to
be found on the album, while Jakob matches it with measured pace.
Here is also where some of the most exposed emotional power comes
through, with considerably less bluster and fury obscuring the
singing, which moves to a reflective quietness. Things build in
intensity, as you might expect, and as the main riffs strengthen
their chording and volume, it's only a matter of time before the
anger resurfaces, which it does in high style.
“Tsunami”, which you might have
heard on last year's single to build hype for WB's return (along with
non-album track “Home”), closes out the album with a tour through
the assorted elements and inclinations preceding. Big, compelling
riffs, contrasted with high-focus brooding and vocal alternation, do
the title justice with the surge and ebbs they bring, while the
finish is downright devastating.
An album to soak up the nuances of over
numerous listening sessions, II
shows that there's still plenty of fire in Wolf Blood's veins, and
complements the debut with a number of intriguing adjustments to the
baseline sound. Though there's not really any immediate howl along
choruses like “Dancing on your grave!”, the confidence and skill
of the band comes through with no obscuring. Vinyl's limited to 250
copies, tapes to 100, so if you want a physical instance of the
album, you'd better act fast. More tour dates are already lined up,
so hit those if you can, and keep ready for more to come from this
crew.
~ Gabriel
For Fans Of; Blood
Farmers, Merlin, Mountain God, Shadowmaster, Stonerror
~
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