Review artwork - Eardelete - Zombielogy CD

Rating: 6.9

Country: Sweden

Release Date: 2006

Track list:
1. I Will Kill Again
2. At The Graveyard
3. Black Magic
4. The Bite
5. Make Friends With Your Nightmares
6. Demon
7. The Dead
8. Seize The Night
9. Steelwinged Savage Reaper
10. Children Of The Black Flame

Band Website: Wolf

Wolf - The Black Flame

Niklas Stalvind- Lead vocals/Guitars
Mikael Goding- Bass guitar
Tobias R Kellgren- Drums
Johannes Losbäck- Guitars/Backing vox

Yes, this is quite possibly the most surprising disappointment of 2006 for this reviewer. Long have I extolled the virtues of Sweden's speed vendors, whose name has bore the brunt of much misguided online diatribe, dialogues which typically involve such ill-founded conjectures as “overrated” and “ Maiden wannabes”. I stand resolutely by the opinion that only their self-titled album emulates Maiden, Saxon and Raven in a blatant fashion, though that British triumvirate has always informed their material to some degree (and, really, WHAT great traditional metal does not borrow from the likes of them, in the first place? Why don't, say, Twisted Tower Dire get the same stick?), and that since that point Wolf have issued two absolutely breathtaking platters of clever and sinister power metal, pregnant with Wead/Larocque-type moves and inventive, yet infectious songwriting. It does appear that this record will besmirch their otherwise stainless record, for try as I might to enjoy the entirety of this album, I can't help but feel underwhelmed and unsatisfied.

Yes, this album bears many of the band's distinctive traits- mercurial, exciting and always involving King Diamond or later Mercyful Fate (Time and Into The Unknown) songwriting, blistering virtuoso solos, fiercely forceful production and seizing tightness. Yet, while all these components were once harnessed to make for memorable, anthemic tunes, it appears as though the band has become partial to the cloying, theatrical choruses so popular amongst many of today's euro-power elite. Many of these songs are marred almost irrevocably by saccharine choruses- “Black Magic” is almost entirely a lost cause, with both verse and chorus sections coming off like a lost Nuclear Blast circa '98 throwaway, “Demon” is a confused slop of both good and awful ideas, and “The Dead” just does not stick to the ribs like hearty, wholesome power metal should.

Thankfully, there are highlights here that lodge themselves amongst the most illustrious chapters of the Wolf canon, and the patient will indeed be rewarded with considerable delights should they decide to slog through to album closer “Children Of The Black Flame”, a nefarious, skulking marauder of a track that slithers along at mid-pace until it swells into a throbbing mid-section, replete with plenty of Denner/Larocque-type twin-guitar pyrotechnics. Album highlight “Make Friends With Your Nightmares” exhibits a Fate-leaning excellence that was first made so evident on the stunning Black Wings, grafting a FLAWLESS vocal melody and hook atop bewitching dual-guitar and urgent, swinging drumming before a curveball, cruelly-riffed mid-section blindsides you and sends you into headbanger nirvana. More kudos must be accorded to the ballsy, ultra lean “Steel Winged Savage Reaper”, which is unashamed British speed metal with King Diamond lead guitar and a Strong Arm Of The Law catchiness. The seamlessness of the transitions in this one is breathtaking, and they truly manage to condense a broad range of references into one jarringly focused burst of energy, making one muse on just how lethal this album would be if this ethic and momentum was maintained throughout the entire record.

Is this worth the purchase then? I would offer a positive answer to that inquiry, simply because the good tracks on this are REALLY worth the dosh. To say that this is the weakest record in the Wolf discography thus far, however, would be a severe understatement. This does not rival the class of Black Wings and Evil Star, and I cannot help but lament what could have been, but one can at least be thankful for the fact that there are a number of redeeming points here.

November 19th, 2006