WOLFHEART – Draconian Darkness

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6.5

• Band:
  WOLFHEART
• Duration: 00:38:28
• Available from: 06/09/2024
• Label:

• Reigning Phoenix Music

Streaming not yet available

Punctual as a Swiss postal worker, here comes Tuomas Saukkonen exactly two years after the penultimate “King Of The North”, a new emulator of Peter Tägtgren in alternating the revived Before The Dawn with the present Wolfheart, now become the main source of income for the Finnish multi-instrumentalist with seven albums under his belt and a constant live presence at festivals all over the world.
After an initial run-in, the quartet, completed four years ago with the entry of Greek guitarist Vangelis Karzis, has found its comfort zone in what they themselves define as 'winter metal': more prosaically, an old-fashioned melodic death metal imbued with a melancholic vein, thanks to symphonic arrangements and a substratum of Nordic mythology halfway between the esotericism of certain doom/death bands and the discount epic of Amon Amarth.
In continuity with the latest releases, since the opener “Ancient Cold” the sound pattern includes the union of Tolkienian arrangements with a rhythmic carpet with a sustained pace – the drummer Joonas Kauppinen, although not particularly imaginative, is a decent hitter – on which the sharp riffs of the two guitars and the growl of the massive frontman stand out, occasionally accompanied by the clean singing of the equally corpulent Karzis: if Sauron were to ever enter the WWE, he would already have the perfect entrance theme ready.
There are few surprises along the nine tracks of “Draconian Darkness”: sometimes we start in the middle of things with an atmospheric break in the middle of the song (“Evenfall”), while on other occasions the incipit is made up of acoustic guitars before the usual rhythmic outburst (“Burning Sky”), but between a rocky midtempo from the mines of Moria (“Death Leads The Way”), some baroque blast beat flavoured elements (“Scion Of The Flame”, “Throne Of Bones”) and references to early Insomnium (“The Gale”) the most characterising element turns out to be the chorus in the native language of “Grave”.
With “Draconian Darkness” Wolfheart confirm their ability to blend cinemascope atmospheres and muscular rhythms, but as with their latest Before The Dawn, they lack that spark that would make a piece stand out not only in the sea of ​​liquid music, but also in their now fairly well-nourished discography.