Album Review - Wolf - The Black Flame

Trim the leather from the wolf and this is what you get - the simply titled Wolf. These metallic canines hail from Sweden and seem to have been locked in a cave there for the past twenty years. Upon release, they grabbed their guitars and began riffing away like no time ever passed them by. "The Black Flame" burns with the kind of intensity and feral streak that made metal so cool for the rebellious crowd back in the 80s. Galloping guitars, an untamed rawness in the axe attack and vocals that are high without the sissy overtones. Vocalist Niklas Stavind gets up there in range but keeps his snarl and gutteral bite like a King Diamond/Rob Halford mixed bred with Dave Mustaine. Their lyrics are cliched stuff that dapples in magic, graveyards and a slaughtering showcase. Not for the fluffy or faint. Comparisions can be drawn to early Leatherwolf, Mercyful Fate, Judas Priest, Obsession, and in more recent times - the first few Seven Witches albums where they danced more in darkness and less with power metal.

Its fury untamed and they make no apologies. "I Will Kill Again" is fast and catchy, relying on an untamed rawness that tears and nips at your heels. "At the Graveyard" (gotta love that title) digs up the corpse of Leatherwolf and beats it into shape. The song crackles like rattling bones and crunchy riffs right out of the book of Metal Old Skool. The morbid lyrics will work their way into your heart like a heartworm...this one is about a twin brother rising from his grave to exact revenge on his once conjourned brother who sacrificed him for its own survival. Twisted is not even the word for it.
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"Black Magic" gives the vocalist a nice workout as it soars into the higher, gut wrenching ranges. "The Dead" is a quick kill. Instant and energetic, its core is beating fiercely for life. "Make Friends With Your Nightmares" is perhaps the perfect example of what Wolf is all about. Borderline psychotic, this song runs rampant with summoning feelings of paranoia and an anxious jitteriness in the palpatating rhythm work. Yet, like a sticky web from a spider, it catches you like a fly to be wrapped up and consumed later. Rough, sinister but commercial all the same. "Children of the Black Flame" is a wicked closer that leaves its mangled mark with a memorable chorus.

"The Black Flame" is perhaps a bit too focused on the nostalgic side. There are a multitude of bands that tackled this sound in the 80s and this disc comes off as a nice imitator. A sense of deja vu ripples throughout, as many of these tunes seem to be ripped from the pages of metal history and given just a new pair of fangs. Nothing here is very original or as ecstatically entertaining as Obsession's fine 2006 effort, but Wolf does make a nice companion piece for those who already picked up "Carnival of Lies" and are looking for more "new" old school music. The songs are all fairly high quality for their genre and have been given a generous modern gloss on the production side of things. However, the pacing does get tiring after awhile since its a nonstep brutal barrage of biting metal from beginning to end.

Written by Alanna
Monday, October 23, 2006
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Ratings

Alanna: 7/10

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Comment by Trans-Siberian Outcast (Anonymous) - Wednesday, October 25, 2006

This new Wolf kicks ass! Probably going to make my top-five of 2006. It's that good. Sure, it's totally retro, but I grew up in the 80s and albums like this are a breath of fresh air for me. If Wolf had come out in the 80s, everyone would have bowed down before them in worship. These days there is a slew of retro 80s metal bands surfacing (many of them quite good), and Wolf is probably the best of the bunch.