Still

I came across Wolverine thanks to a sampler CD that included the first track from this album, called A House Of Plague. How to describe them? I could steal a description of Opeth's music, which was, 'like rays of sunlight breaking through into Hell' or some such thing; but I prefer Wolverine to Opeth.

Wolverine apparently started life as a death metal band, and you can hear the fossils of that still; when they rock, they rock. But they never sacrifice melody, and the singer can really sing. They're described as 'prog' these days, which comes across in their complex song structures and occasional weird tricks of rhythm, tempo and sound. Song themes are dark - disease, death, the Iraq war - but there are glimmers of light and optimism too. I think.

For fans of Porcupine Tree, Riverside - indeed, of any band that knows how to be apocalyptic and musical at the same time.

I bought this with Riverside's "Second Life Syndrome" and they sit well together, and show that the future of progressive metal is assured. Personally, I think this is slightly better than Riverside's effort, but they are both 5-star crackers. Wolverine kick of with the great "A House of Plague" and proceed to fill the album with quite diverse stuff. I like "Liar on the Mount" and "Sleepy Town" but they save the best for last. "And She Slowly Dies" is epic in everything but length (only 7:40 - should have been 17:40!). All I can say is that if you like Riverside's "Second Life Syndrome" you must surely like this.

It was Spotify's fault, as I had never heard of Wolverine, and came across them through Spotify's "Related Artists" while listening to a Leprous release. Ultimately, this makes it Amazon's fault, as I had never heard of Leprous either, and came across that band through Amazon's "Recommendations for You". I purchased Bilateral and this album, and thus far am very happy with both. Happy enough, I shall have to make some continuing investigations into the state of Scandinavian prog-metal - and particularly bands I might otherwise have dismissed as death metal. For it seems that both Leprous and Wolverine started as death metal bands, though you would not know it from either of the two albums I purchased.

The band which Wolverine seems most to be compared with (see the other reviews on this page, or do a little Googling) is Riverside, and I guess this is not far wrong, though I think they also bare some resemblence to Threshold. The comparison to Threshold is only emphasised by the singer sounding quite similar to Damian Wilson. While I like Damian Wilson, he does himself sound similar to Geoff Tate, but with less power. I hesistate to use the words weak or bland, but certainly Wilson doesn't often evoke any image of power with his vocals - and neither does the vocalist for Wolverine. The same could be said for the music, if you are expecting prog metal to be, well, metal. There is very little to this album which is really very metal at all - or even, perhaps, prog.

That said, this is a very enjoyable listen, with a nice flow of catchy, melodic and atmospheric music throughout. The occasional heavier moment (though never too heavy - so that I struggle to imagine how this band could ever have been death metal!), but for the most part the music is creative without being complex, and predictable rather than progressive. I have a feeling anyone approaching this as a "prog-metal" album might well be disappointed on one or both counts - but as a traditional, rock release, then I think this should more than satisfy anyone who gives it a listen. It definitely leaves me wanting more, and I will be adding the other Wolverine albums to my wishlist.