The Time Of The Wolfrider

vote
6.5

• Bands:
  GRIMGOTTS
• Duration: 00:56:48
• Available from: 09/27/2024
• Label:

• Elevate Records

Grimgotts are a British band active since 2015 who have released various EPs and with this “The Time Of The Wolfrider” reaches their third album: it is a fantasy-inspired concept, set in imaginary places (although the name both curiously Andria, has nothing to do with the Apulian town), and starring this 'Wolfrider', a hero who rides a wolf. To be honest, the story doesn't excite us much and, although we love fantasy, we aren't particularly attracted to these sagas based on a series of stereotypes and lack of brilliant originality. Furthermore, boring narrated parts are also continually inserted into the tracks, which in most cases end up making the songs unnecessarily heavy.
From a purely musical point of view, the band plays a very melodic classic power metal, with a good dose of orchestrations, anthemic choirs and some folk elements, so much so that in this respect, sometimes, as in the initial track “An Amber Dawn”, we they made you think of the Elvenkings.
There are also some wide-ranging moments, such as “Darkwood”, a song divided into three parts for a total duration of about ten minutes, proving the fact that Grimgotts aim to be very direct and immediate, but this does not mean that I am able to compose even more complex pieces.
The songs are however very catchy, with beautiful melodies and catchy choruses: among these stand out tracks like the aforementioned “An Amber Dawn”, “Return To The Sea”, “Swallowed By Darkness” or “Black Banners”, while some others like “Ancient Voices “(Hear Them Calling)” or “Wings Of Wonder” is quite repetitive and flows by quite anonymously.
Let's say that the band plays honest power, offering a pleasant and well-interpreted album, however without great claims of originality and which moves on well-established patterns, following all the clichés of the genre.