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Wolverine

Communication Lost

Written by: PP on 31/05/2011 03:14:14

Most progressive bands go for the epic, executing impossibly beautiful and technically challenging soundscapes effortlessly in an effort to obtain that level of grandeur necessary for success. Only a few actually succeed - such as Dream Theater - while the rest feel little more like unnecessary instrumental wizardry. Then you have the heavy, but melancholic bands like Paradise Lost, Anathema, who are great for altogether different reasons. And then you have bands like Wolverine from Sweden, that dwell somewhere in between the two styles.

Although Wolverine isn't incessantly technical nor neverendingly grandiose in their delivery, they still go for that epic soundscape but through different means. They integrate saddened clean singing - but not overtly melancholic, I might add - and aim towards a completionist sound through an extensive element of soul and feeling in their music. It's a great idea, because when it succeeds, you'll likely have another "The Wall" or "The Dark Side Of The Moon" in your hands. The unforgettable moments albums like that have come almost strictly from the perfect interplay between the instruments, the mood, the sound, and the band members that has been honed to utter brilliance.

Regrettably, Wolverine fails miserably at this task. Song after song you can sense what the idea was all along, but it never manifests in anything else than pointless clean-vocal driven progressive rock songs that are a dime-a-dozen if you look into a site like prog-archives, for instance. The songs aren't even remotely interesting and to date after a dozen or so listens I'm still to remember a single song from the record. It really is that nothingsaying, that anonymous, that boring, that forgettable in nature. And bear with me here, because I'm not assaulting the band's instrumental skill by any means, since that is, as is to be expected from a prog rock band, fantastic. It's just that their talent doesn't translate into interesting songs.

Download: Your Favourite War
For the fans of: Paradise Lost, Green Carnation, Queensryche
Listen: Myspace

Release date 23.05.2011
Candlelight Records