Digital Metal´s review of Wolf´s Return
Damien Boorman
Grand Magus - Wolf’s Return
(Rise Above Records)
This is good. Grand Magus’s Wolf’s Return is a rip-roaring good example of how classic sludgy doom metal should be played. Hailing from nowhere else than metal capital Stockholm Sweden, Grand Magus do more with three people than what many bands of this ilk can’t achieve with six; because remember guys, it isn’t the size of the band that counts, it’s what they do with their members (bad pun intended). In what is becoming a personal mantra, it’s all about the song-writing and Grand Magus have it in spades; the tracks here are predominantly mid-paced and simple exercises in metal history–which might not sound appetite whetting–but my lord are they well written and catchy as all hell.
I’ve seen Wolf’s Return referred to repeatedly as a doom metal album but I have to somewhat disagree. I guess technically it shares stylistic similarities with doom but this exudes an entirely different vibe. I for one can’t think of many other doom albums that make me want to down a bottle of Jack then jump on a Harley and go start a brawl just for fun. This seems to capture the soul of down n’ dirty heavy rock n’ roll, and I’m not sure I’ve heard it played so naturally since Sabbath and early Danzig. Grand Magus seem to subscribe to the ‘less is more’ school of thought when it comes to composing their lofty tunes. “Kingslayer” rolls out the gate with a mid-paced, thrashier attack and is content to keep things fairly up-tempo before blindsiding the listener with a burly beat-down half way through the track complete with quasi-death metal bellows. “Nine” demonstrates the impressive capabilities of vocalist “JB” with its anthemic chorus and moody progression. This is the first track in which we are treated to some impressive falsetto which would usually have me hitting the ‘skip’ button, but “JB” has this glorious raw, dirtiness to his voice which effectively avoids the castration effect of Labrie and nearly all power metal vocalists.
After a short instrumental the title track kicks off and keeps the quality at ten. “Wolf’s Return” lowers the mood a little and has a more sinister vibe to it than the preceding tracks, but with equally stellar song-writing. “Blood Oath” would have to be one of the album’s standouts with yet another amazing chorus, this time encouraging one to don some battle armour and go battle the advancing orcs. “Jahnbord” shows another side of the band with its enchanting ambience and mood. I can just imagine this thing being played by a bunch of forest dwellers on a starry night around a campfire. There really isn’t much point in continuing with the track breakdowns, because everything here is quality and very much worthy of the attention of any metal fan.
The production on Wolf’s Return is excellent and suits the music perfectly with its professional sound but lack of digital polish which adds beautifully to the natural and earthy tones of this. I usually don’t really go for this kind of really classic sounding metal, which is another hallmark to the quality of this release because I’m absolutely digging this one. This is how it should be done. None of the stuff that usually bugs me with similar releases is a problem here: the songs are written wonderfully, the album reeks of charisma and rock n’ roll instead of cheese, and the production is more than fitting. Wolf’s Return is a great album.
By Damien Boorman
http://www.digitalmetal.com/reviews.asp?cid=6854
« Back
Seen Grand Magus in Press? Please send us information at band@grandmagus.com