This one
kicks off very abruptly. No build-up, no intro, not anything, but raw aggression –
and I love it!
The outfit behind Devil’s Whorehouse started out as a sort of Misfits-inspired
band, although a lot heavier than the source. During two Eps and
two full-length albums their style has become
even heavier, darker and more thrashy. Now they
call themselves Death Wolf, and so far no line-up changes has occurred.
So, what is Death Wolf? It’s a wild mixture of Death Punk, Thrash and Doom. Most
of Whorehouse’s Horror Punk-influences are gone, as are the Black ’n’ Roll
groove. This is something new – darker, more sinister and far more aggressive.
As mentioned above, the self-titled album just starts pounding away on your
skull, with no warning. As the 12 tracks progresses Death Wolf slowly, but
steadily adds new genre fragments, experiments with different tempi and
experiences some severe mood swings. I especially like
the way the funeral procession-slow song Ironwood fades into silence – and how
that silence is unceremoniously broken by the
monumental metal/punk hybrid Sword and Flame.
Generally this album is a real treat, though it is hard to pinpoint exactly
why. I’ve tried not to compare it too much with
the old Devil’s Whorehouse stuff – of which I am a great fan – but I’ve probably
not succeeded very well. The old stuff has more memorable single songs, but
Death Wolf has made an album; as in ”a complete self-contained album”. In these
days that is rare, and reason enough to get your hands on it.
