WOLFHEART: King Of The North (DEATH METAL): review / opinion to read on Music Waves

While he had decided in 2014 to put an end to all his other projects in order to focus on Wolfheart, which has become over time a band in its own right, Tuomas Saukkonen has surprisingly relaunched Dawn Of Solace (in 2019) and Before The Dawn (in 2021). But he doesn't abandon his main project, as illustrated by this "King Of The North" coming two years after a "Wolves Of Karelia" of good memory.

First contact with this sixth album, its title does not augur a particularly original creation. The Finns don't desert the Great North and its coldly epic landscapes nor their preferred style, the melodic death metal. In the genre, Wolfheart has imposed itself as a sure value and reminds us once again with this new record in the straight line of its elders. We can hardly notice a more marked Amorphis influence than usual, as witnessed by 'Skyforger', borrowing its name from Esa Holopainen's band and offering a slow and majestic beginning which benefits from the notable contribution of guitarist Vagellis Karzis whose clear voice (which is not without evoking that of Tomi Joutsen) is skillfully coupled with the growls of the master of the place.

On this subject, the vocal lines turn out to be particularly worked, playing on the opposition between dark and shivering clarity ('Knell') or by summoning luxury guests surprisingly far from the Scandinavian universe (Jesse Leach from Killswitch Engage and Karl Sanders from Nile) for a very successful result ('Ancestor' with the first of the two). Draped in arrangements of an icy beauty, the work shines by the balance reached by Wolfheart between dark ferocity and crystalline melodies. The first one owes a lot to Joonas Kauppinen's millimetric drumming and to some black metal incursions, the second one to these heady guitars looking like a lookout piercing a pallid fog.

Unstoppable production, sharp writing and perfect execution command an album that could not arouse the slightest reservation but are not enough to make it anything else than a simple record for Wolfheart, as solid as it is. The fans of the genre will be seduced, which is the main thing. - Official website

WOLFHEART

KING OF THE NORTH

NAPALM RECORDS

DEATH METAL