Legions Of Bastards

Long before this retro-metal craze reached globe-spanning proportions, Wolf seemed like a quaint little band from Sweden beholden to Iron Maiden and all things New Wave of British Heavy Metal, rather than the eventual driving force behind this movement that they, in fact, turned out to be. Not that the bands trajectory hasnt been without its fair share of trials and tribulations, ranging from troublingly regular lineup shakeups (though not recently) to a few less than stellar albums (2004s love/hate proposition Evil Star; 2006s overly commercial The Black Flame), but then, no discography is perfect. 2009s Ravenous already managed to redress some of those prior inconsistencies with a particularly savage streak, and now the men behind Wolf are clearly ready to have a little fun amid their reliable head-banging on their cheekily named sixth album, Legions of Bastards, because several tracks ("Skull Crusher," "Tales from the Crypt," "Nocturnal Rites," etc.) clearly dont take themselves too seriously. Yes, such a stance is always fraught with danger in the humor-deprived world of heavy metal, but its hard not to smile right along with the members of Wolf as they blaze through numerous nuggets of pure, unadulterated metal, rich in wailing vocals, sharp staccato riffs, and brilliant twin guitar harmonies showcased on the likes of "Vicious Companions," "Road to Hell," "K-141 Kursk" (written about the lost Russian submarine), and others. Very rarely, a knuckleheaded circular riff or dull verse will threaten to stall the bands upward momentum (see "Jeckyll & Hyde," "Absinthe") only to sputter back to full power on the back of convincingly dramatic melodies. And then theres the additional security of watching an already great song like "Full Moon Possession" transforming into an absolute six-string tour de force, where Niklas Stalvind and Johannes Losback trade solo licks like theyre friggin Tipton and Downing (thats Judas Priests dynamic guitar duo, in case you wandered in from the reggae section). Which brings up the point that Wolf will probably never be a groundbreaking musical proposition, but few bands do a better job of keeping heavy metals early-‘80s templates vital and dust-free. Heck, Wolf actually makes those old codgers look good! ~ Eduardo Rivadavia