WOLF - Devil Seed
September 3, 2014, 10 years ago
(Century Media)
It's been a long time since these Swedes possessed such urgency, from the cleverly entitled opening instrumental intro “Overture In C Shark”, which leads into first single “Shark Attack” (operative word being attack), Wolf are dangerous once again. Like the menacing titular beast circling its prey, Devil Seed is a sleek construction, devoid of frills, just killing technology. Simple, speedy, guitar driven anthems with easy-to-sing, repetitive choruses (lyrical tongue deeply implanted in cheek) are the norm, with a brief flourish of Spanish acoustic guitar (in “Skeleton Woman”) about as adventurous as things get with this latest batch of ten songs, although the disc does fade out acoustically. Ironically, the uptempo “Back From The Grave” features lyrics like, “You have only made me re-invent myself. So let's bring it back to life. I'm alive.” While on one level a Grade B horror tale, on another, symptomatic of the travails for founder/ mainstay/ guitarist/ singer Niklas Stålvind. Takes a bit of balls (or reclusive existence) to call a song “Frozen” these days, but it contains some good grinding guitar, while “River Everlost” opts for more of a wah wah effect. Welcome back!
