Wehrwolf Spirit

I'll start this review with letting you know that Wolfsangel have nothing to do with black metal. Seb's vocals are clear and you will find only two occasions where blastbeats and tremolo picking is used (namely the end of Wehrwolf and the end of Hommes d'Honneurs).

So, what the music is like? Well, I guess that Wolfsangel falls under the category of RAC along bands like Honor, Agressiva 88 and Stahlgewitter. In other words they belong to the more metallic wing of RAC. They also have some more introspective elements in their music that were probably influenced by mellower RAC acts like Skrewdriver (especially Snow Fell) and Landser.

So, let's move to the songs presented here. Most of them start with a short intro played with an acoustic guitar with the exception of Vercingetorix which is played with a clean electric guitar and Wehrwolf which starts fast with a melodeath riff. Most of the songs have a nice build up. With the exception of the aforementioned Wehrwolf all the songs start slowly and then speed up. That is obvious in Hommes d'Honneurs (the best song of the album by far) which starts in a very low pace and it ends with blastbeats.

The lyrics of this album are all in French. If you can understand French and you share the political positions of Wolfsangel (bear in mind that Wolfsangel are first and foremost a political band) you'll like the lyrics. I do not share their political positions and I cannot understand French so I do not give much attention to the lyrics though I have to accept that they fit the music and that I'd be putten off if Wolfsangel sung in English.

The songs of Wolfsangel range a lot in terms of speed. Practically, all songs have slow, mid and fast-paced moments.

The guitar riffs are nice and they remind more of hardcore punk bands (the aforementioned ones) rather than metal ones. However, they get the job done. Bjorn's bass lines are spot-on and you can hear them all over the album. The drumming of the album is decent and it has a nice bit of variation with slow and fast parts. You can even get to hear some blastbeats in the last two songs.

The highlight of the album is Seb's vocals. Despite many RAC vocalists Seb is a talented singer. His voice has a nice range and he sings in a high-pitched manner reminding a mix of Udo and Halford. His performance is remarkable. Despite his excellent high-pitched voice though he really shines at the more hymnic parts of the album (namely the chorus Flamme Ancienne and all through Hommes d'Honneurs).

The best song of the album is undisputedly Hommes d'Honneurs. Seb here gives his better self. The song itself is very melancholic with a nice burst and a very good solo.

I'd reccomend this album to any of you that likes either traditional metal (mostly due Seb's vocals), the aforementioned RAC acts or generally anyone who likes rock, hardcore, punk or metal in general. This album is kickass and I sincerely hope for more Wolfsangel releases in the future.