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Wolf - Evil Star


*
=Staff's pick

Evil Star*
American Storm*
The Avenger*
Wolf's Blood
Transylvanian Twilight
Devil Moon*
Out Of Still Midnight
The Dark*
Black Wing Rider*
Don't Fear The Reaper


Genre Heavy Metal
Niklas Olsson
Vocals
Tracks 10
Niklas Olsson
Guitar
Runningtime 58 Min.
Johannes Losbäck
Guitar
Label No Fashion Records
Mike Goding
Bass
Release 10 Feb 2004
Tobbe
Drums
Country Sweden
-
Keyboards
Similar artists Iron Maiden, Mercyful Fate

The blood of classic Iron Maiden, Judas Priest and the feel of the Eighties flow strongly in the veins of Swedish metal act Wolf. This they clearly proved on their first two albums and Evil Star is no exception from that former path at all. The band persists on stepping in their Iron Maiden footprints that have to be regarded as the strongest and most notable source of inspiration and those have also been joined by Mercyful Fate and some touches of Accept. The elementary sound still revolves around the early Maiden years when it comes to the basic song-structures, but here very clear references to the guitar sound on Powerslave are also highly seasoned.

On track no 3, The Avenger, the main guitar riff sends a serious nod to Duel Of The Blades and Back In The Village and the instrumental Transylvanian Twilight partly leans towards its counterpart on Powerslave- Losfer's Words. The Dark and Wolf's Blood show much influence from Mercyful Fate, while the main riffing on Black Wing Rider has clear touches of Accept filtering through. The overall genuine feeling of heavy metal rock'n roll even sends a thought or two towards bands like Motorhead and to some extent even Saxon. The band's cover version of Blue Oyster Cult's classic Don't Fear the Reaper inserts another reference to this style and closes the album elegantly. With all these mentioned bands you of course realise that there's no doubt at all where this is rooted.

I have a deep affection for metal that inherits elements of the Eighties without trying to make modern versions out of it, but very few are successful in this. Wolf however make this sound very natural and show a deep respect and sense of details from that era. They actually seem to have invented the time-machine, gone back to somewhere around the mid-Eighties when NWOBHM was in it's fullest bloom, collected all the essential heavy metal building blocks, re-assembled it all again and incorporated everything into something very much their own. Fat power chords, galloping rhythms, twin guitar duels, lush solos full of feeling (Smith/Murray- look out!), really impressive song structures and yeah, you got it- the cowbells are back too and add further serious fuel-loads to that bonfire. The high pitched vocals of Niklas Olsson are as usual sounding like a little more fastidious and slightly lower King Diamond falsetto, but he's still holding the tone perfectly and I must say he's improved immensely since the last release and now feels much more comfortable and confident in his role.

Production-wise this is the genuine and splendid craftsmanship by Peter Tätgren (Pain, Hypocrisy etc) who's efforts here are as good as free of flaws and he terrific guitar sound he's found at least for me marks the album's most prominent feature. I almost wish for an instrumental album produced along the same lines since many songs clocks into over six minutes as a result of long and very pleasurable guitar-based instrumental passages. I simply grade this as one of the better Swedish metal productions ever and I certainly wish that the band continue this cooperation on many more releases yet. This full blooded album of purest metal is simply the absolute best recording of this pack yet, not only regarding the super production but also due to the song material. Wolf prove that the first two albums were not a coincidence and continue to deliver. Highly recommended for aficionados of unpolluted and uncompromising heavy metal.

See also review of: Devil Seed , Ravenous , The Black Flame , Black Wings

Production
Vocals
Compositions

9

8

8,5

 
Summary



8,5 chalices of 10 - Mat

Related links:

www.wolf.nu