Wan
Wolves Of the North ()
Wydane przez Abyss RecordsRok wydania Kraj SwedenNapisał Wouter7
With bloodied faces and sporting inverted crosses they come from Eskilstuna, Sweden, this unholy trio features two members of up-and-coming doom metal act Atra Filia. Elias "Tsjud" Axelsson (vocals) and Jan "Isengrim" Röök (bass) here show a different facet of their musical personality. The riffing of Mattias "Aganaroth" Björklund is pretty straightforward. Overall, (early) Bathory, Hellhammer, Venom and "Morbid Visions" era Sepultura seems to be the biggest influences here. Stand-out tracks are '13 Sons of the Devil', 'Död Kristen Man', 'Wargoat', 'Ursinnets Begär' and 'Med Stormsteg Mot Döden'. "Wolves Of the North" boils with the blackest of thrash, taking minor influences from death metal in its heaviness. The presence of only one guitar limits Wan's compositional possibilities somewhat. The album was recorded at Hammer Regime Studio and compared to the earlier Atra Filia recording "Wolves Of the North" sees the production values slowly improving. The guitar tone could use a bit more bite and definition and while the bass guitar is formidably audible the kickdrums lack in presence and do not nearly add enough to the overall heaviness. As with their doom act Wan also suffers from plastic sounding programmed drums, especially the snares albeit the powerful cymbal crashes compensate that slightly. They are better off recruiting a human drummer and recording the drums in a (semi-)professional studio such as Endarker, Necromorbus or Unisound. The high end mastering at Studio Beast by Arcana mainman Peter Bjärgö does elevate the recordings to more professional heights. The artwork by Subtrocity Dale is good, but artwork by Erik Danielsson (Watain), Kristian "Necrolord" Wahlin (Amorphis, Dissection, Emperor, Witchery), Axel Hermann (Asphyx, Grave, Unleashed) or Erik "Tyrant" Gustavsson (Nifelheim) would have fitted so much better. While there may be bands out there that are technically or productionwise more advanced and evolved, Wan is one of more convincing and spirited black/thrash crossovers of the last few years.
www.officialabyssrecords.com
