WOLVERINE /prog-metal/

[Vadix]

Wolverine - Fervent Dream 1999

CBR 192 kbps, 51.5MB in RAR archive

Track listing:
1. Whispers On The Wind
2. Echoes
3. More Than Grief
4. Again?
5. Last Words
6. Time (Digi only)
7. Resistance (Digi only)

Musicians:
Stefan Zell - bass, clean vocals
Marcus Losbjer - drums, death vocals
Michael Zell - guitars
Carl-Henrik Landegren - guitar, backing vocals

Additional musicians:
Andreas "Bagge" Baglien - keyboards
Kevin Sumner - didgeridoo
Elin Hedlund - violin
Tuva Modeer - violin
Caroline Sjoberg - viola
Helena Bohman - cello
Per Broddesson – guitars (on the 2 last tracks)

Marcus Losbjer and Stefan Zell formed WOLVERINE in 1995. Mikael Zell, Stefan's younger brother, came on board pretty soon as well. In the early days the band played Melodic Death Metal. After a few line-up changes and three demos Andreas Baglien and Carl-Henrik Landegren joined the band. Together they recorded WOLVERINE's fourth demo called “Fervent Dream”. The music had then gone from Melodic Death Metal to Melodic Progressive Metal although mixed up with some "growl-vocals", an element kept since the band's earlier days.
Shortly after the release of ”Fervent Dream” the band got signed by Zizania Entertainment Group. Through Zizania, the band released a partly re-recorded version of ”Fervent Dream” as a mini-CD in November 1999. That same month they also performed outside Sweden for the first time in their career. ”Fervent Dream” was received amazingly well by both media and audience. The band got amazing reviews and the CD soon sold out.

For a demo tape the sound is good and the mix between each instrument is very good and competent. I'm impressed by this band's ear for melodies, the way they have blended their musical influences naturally into each song and the ability not to repeat themselves. Each song is a melodic masterpiece of progressive metal with symphonic influences, and should appeal to all fans of melodic prog metal. I just can't understand why this band isn't signed yet. Based on the songs on this demo, these guys are ready for the studio. Their music deserve to be brought to a wider audience. Rating: 8/10

_http://rapidshare.de/files/17147566/ArchiveW-FD.rar.html


Wolverine - The Window Purpose [2001]

CBR 192 kbps, 77.3MB in RAR archive

Tracklist:
1. End - My Room (8:51)
2. His Cold Touch [I: Within these walls] (9:42)
3. His Cold Touch [II: A Silent Outside] (1:52)
4. Leaving Yesterday (7:11)
5. Towards Loss (5:55)
6. The Storm Inside (7:57)
7. Coma (7:25)
8. Release (2:12)
9. Post Life (5:57)

Musicians:
Marcus Losbjer - drums, death vocals
Stefan Zell - bass, clean vocals
Mikael Zell - guitar
Andreas "Bagge" Baglien -keyboards, organ
Per Broddesson - guitar

Additional musicians:
Oliver Philipps - additional vocals
Jamina Jansson - vocals (5)

This might be a band that will cause lots of talking for the next few years! They seek inspiration on 70’s progressive rock and combine that with today’s progressive metal. Abundant lyricism, acoustic guitars, melodic solos, emotional vocals, technical setting, rhythm alternations, powerful, on the edge riffs, nice keyboards and brutal vocals compose the puzzle of this superb cd. Musically, Wolverine tends to fall into a category of newer progressive dark metal bands along the lines of Evergrey, Pain of Salvation and Opeth.
"My Room" is a clear hybrid between Dream Theater (the forceful Portnoy-like drumming during the guitar solo for instance) and Fates Warning (especially during the vocal parts). A very strong track, but it all becomes even better in what approaches a prog metal lovers orgasm: "His Cold Touch". Clocking in at almost ten minutes, this track leads us through an acoustic, almost pop-ballad opening, until the deepest dark yet melodic grunting in the opening of "II: A Silent Outside". I think that is the strength of the album: the melody is never lost out of sight. In that respect, this track can rival Pain Of Salvation's The Perfect Element pt I (which to me is one of the absolute best prog metal albums ever made, due to the fact that it is heavy but melodic through and through). In fact, a lot of "I: Within These Walls" is very reminiscent of Pain Of Salvation.
"Leaving Yesterday" brings on another surprise: a female vocalist called Jamina Jansson (unknown to me). In this heavy "love-duet" the two voices go together remarkably well. "Towards Lost" is one of the heavier tracks, not unlike some early Dream Theater tracks (apart from grunts that is), whereas "The Storm Inside" comes closer to Fates Warning again and "Coma" again towards Dream Theater...

_http://rapidshare.de/files/17201512/ArchiveW-TWP.rar.html


Wolverine - Cold Light of Monday [2003]

CBR 192 kbps, 70.8MB in RAR archive

Tracklist:
1. Dawn (2:30)
2. Sarah (4:31)
3. New Best Friends (6:14)
4. Tight Rope (4:59)
5. Carousel (07:51)
6. Trust (2:52)
7. Pantomine (5:07)
8. Red Canvas (2:11)
9. Dusk (2:00)
10. Tied With Sin (6:06)
11. The Final Redemption (7:20)

„Cold Light Of Monday“ is absolutely no Progressive Metal as you know it, but a quite calm, often avantgardistic version of Rock. The concept deals with a young woman named Sarah, who finds herself absolutely devastated in a basement, abused and trying to find out how she ended up there. The eleven songs of “Cold Light Of Monday” take us on that journey, here disturbing, there mesmerizing, reminding me of newer ANATHEMA, for example on “A Fine Day To Exit”.
The biggest reason this record works so well, is due to the band's understanding of atmosphere in music. This album sounds and feels like a big city at 3 a.m. in the morning. It's not brutally heavy or devastating like the majority of what I listen to, but it's crushingly beautiful in it's own splendid way. Somber organ music accompanied by clean vocals and massive guitar work really make this album come alive, note by note. Each and every time I hear it, I find something newer and better that I didn't hear before!

Overall, an excellent album which impresses more and more with each listen, with new elements of the sound coming to the fore (very much a ‘headphones’ album in this respect). On this evidence, Pain Of Salvation have some real competition on their hands … Conclusion: 9 out of 10

_http://rapidshare.de/files/17214956/ArchiveW-CLoM.rar.html

Отличная группа. Крайне рекомендую любителям Pain of Salvation и Dream Theater.