This is the third album from Australian blackened death metal band Werewolves.
Containing current and ex-members of like Akercocke, King, Pestilence, Psycroptic, and many more, a lot of experience has gone into the creation of Werewolves’ new album. From the Cave to the Grave contains 35 minutes of monstrous metallic mayhem, and the band are on fire.
The music is feral, yet precise. There’s a lot of attitude and confident belligerence here, but channelled into songs that are well-played and structured. Werewolves play a form of blackened death metal, (with grindcore touches), that may be spiky and ugly, but is imbued with sharp songcraft and festooned with the sort of hooks that many a lesser band would kill for.
Each of these well-crafted songs is simply very, very good. Mixing together a range of extreme metal influences, Werewolves vomit forth hostile music that’s nonetheless surprisingly charismatic and memorable. The band will beat you senseless, but you’ll thank them for it because it’s the best damn beating you’ve had in a while. It’s not all about the brutality either, as sinister atmosphere and macabre mood is occasionally made use of, further broadening Werewolves’ reach as they claw at the dying light.
Imagine the skill and intensity of a band like Hate Eternal combined with the catchy old-school punishment of a band like Usurper and the sharp melodic might of a band like The Black Dahlia Murder; this is what Werewolves remind me of, only with a personality all of their own.
I really, really liked this.
Very highly recommended.
Wonderbox Metal 