WAN - Wolves Of The North
WAN takes the distortion of 90s black metal and combines it with the catchy style of black rock n' roll. Are they successful their their debut, Wovles Of The North? Not exactly. While the album is groove based, the distortion sometimes outshines the melodies, and the lyrical themes drag the band into the begrudging territory that about fifty other black metal bands have attempted to test. Much of the music sounds the same: vocals that borderline blackened death metal and the subversive, slow, moody punk rock of mid Darkthrone era mixed with Khold. There's only so much one can do to make things interesting and WAN unfortunately tries to put all their eggs in one basket, leaving little room to spread the wealth to make the whole album enjoyable.
Many of the tracks like "13 Sons Of The Devil," "Ulvhall," "Rapid Satan" and "Kingdom Of War" are rapid chuggers with a catchy feeling, but little in the way of any substance to keep the listener fully entertained. It's just all speed and little intrigue because the music is so raw and basic. This might have been a pretty awesome thing if one was in the mid nineties again, but almost twenty years later, it is a thing of the past. After a while the distortion becomes a bore or the music becomes too repetitive. The only thing saving grace is the vocals, which alter from the usual harsh rasp to darkly disturbed croaks and grunts. "Wargoat" finally makes things interesting, musically, as it slows down at parts to create a depressive, moody atmosphere much in the way that the Swedish Marduk has gone. Although WAN lack the emotive power of Marduk's vocalist, they certainly can create some very interesting tempos on the guitars. "War Of The Unholy" is a slow, sombre march that is also catchy and gives lots of space so the distortion doesn't make the music seem so crammed. Finally there's "Wolves Of The North" which isn't enticing for a moody instrumentation, but pure, raw power. WAN unleash everything on this track, and even though it is in the vein of every typical black metal song one could imagine, it is done with such speed and precision that it has to be appreciated.
WAN's debut really could have been something if they had experimented more. Instead, they fell back on the usual black metal formula that has been used countless of times. Sure, it is staple and the repetitive ideas about Satan, wolves, and icy nature is no stranger to the black metal world. However, this is a time when people want to hear intelligent, new music. WAN pay tribute to the black metal of old, but it isn't diverse enough to capture a wide interest in audience. Instead, most likely those who only think black metal is about Satan, speed, spikes, and corpsepaint, will enjoy this. Those who are looking for more evolved black metal would probably want to look elsewhere.
Many of the tracks like "13 Sons Of The Devil," "Ulvhall," "Rapid Satan" and "Kingdom Of War" are rapid chuggers with a catchy feeling, but little in the way of any substance to keep the listener fully entertained. It's just all speed and little intrigue because the music is so raw and basic. This might have been a pretty awesome thing if one was in the mid nineties again, but almost twenty years later, it is a thing of the past. After a while the distortion becomes a bore or the music becomes too repetitive. The only thing saving grace is the vocals, which alter from the usual harsh rasp to darkly disturbed croaks and grunts. "Wargoat" finally makes things interesting, musically, as it slows down at parts to create a depressive, moody atmosphere much in the way that the Swedish Marduk has gone. Although WAN lack the emotive power of Marduk's vocalist, they certainly can create some very interesting tempos on the guitars. "War Of The Unholy" is a slow, sombre march that is also catchy and gives lots of space so the distortion doesn't make the music seem so crammed. Finally there's "Wolves Of The North" which isn't enticing for a moody instrumentation, but pure, raw power. WAN unleash everything on this track, and even though it is in the vein of every typical black metal song one could imagine, it is done with such speed and precision that it has to be appreciated.
WAN's debut really could have been something if they had experimented more. Instead, they fell back on the usual black metal formula that has been used countless of times. Sure, it is staple and the repetitive ideas about Satan, wolves, and icy nature is no stranger to the black metal world. However, this is a time when people want to hear intelligent, new music. WAN pay tribute to the black metal of old, but it isn't diverse enough to capture a wide interest in audience. Instead, most likely those who only think black metal is about Satan, speed, spikes, and corpsepaint, will enjoy this. Those who are looking for more evolved black metal would probably want to look elsewhere.
- 13 Sons Of The Devil
- Hädanfärd
- Dod Kristen Man
- Kingdom Of Wan
- Wargoat
- Ursinnets Begar
- Ulvhall
- Bortgang
- War Of The Unholy
- Med Stormsteg Mot Doden
- Rapid Satan
- Rise Of The Antichrist
- Wolves Of The North
Abyss Records
Reviewer: Colin McNamara
Sep 5, 2010
Sep 5, 2010
Next review:
The Destiny Program - Gathas
Share this:
