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Wolfgate - Howling Lament review



Reviewer:
7.6

1 user:
7
Band: Wolfgate
Album: Howling Lament
Release date: 2008


01. Intro - Despero Illarum
02. Ancient Dominion
03. Invocation Of The Gate Of Nergal
04. Eternal Night Sky
05. Incest Maternal Gifts
06. Offerings Of Blood

The Canis Lupus, better known as "Wolf", has a new worshipper. Wolfgate, which praises the elegant and fierce creature through their band name, demo title and artwork, is just as well an entity to watch out for. The four Americans of Wolfgate are not yet signed, but if they have a shred of luck on their side, they will be soon.

You see, this band has only been going since '05 of this decade, but their first demo sounds a huge step ahead of most debut demo's I've heard. "Howling Lament", said demo, showcases a band with feeling for song writing and the balance of heavy vs. soft, and might just be the first sign of a band that's going to make it in the underground. They have my support.

"Howling Lament" contains deep growls and screams, frantic drumming, catchy riffs and keyboards that actually accentuate the riffs instead of building a huge wall of sound just for the sake of it. Besides the keyboards the clean male choir background vocals is also an element that is often used and abused within the Symphonic Black metal genre, but Wolfgate does these right as well.

Don't get me wrong, there's still plenty of room for improvement for these guys and I'm certainly not declaring them the new Emperor or Limbonic Art (partially because they're a little lighter than these bands). Improvement is possible in the department of the shrieks, which sound a little too typical for the genre, but since this is only their first attempt those things are easily forgotten. What remains is a young, hungry and promising band which needs to get signed as soon as possible. Let's see if they can fulfil the promise they've made with this demo.


Rating breakdown
Performance: 8
Songwriting: 8
Originality: 6
Production: 6





Written on 17.03.2009 by If you're interested in extreme, often emotional and underground music, check out my reviews. I retired from reviewing, but I really used to be into that stuff.


Comments

Comments: 7   Visited by: 143 users
17.03.2009 - 01:11
-DC-002-
Mastercommander
That album art is really corny. It looks photoshopped.
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Coldgrits
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17.03.2009 - 02:18
quirin

Written by -DC-002- on 17.03.2009 at 01:11

That album art is really corny. It looks photoshopped.

I strongly agree : artwork is utterly screwed up, with a dominant bleue slaughtered by touches of red and yellow. Awful! Music sounds quite promising, though.
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17.03.2009 - 12:45
Damned-In-Black

It is rather good stuff. I'll keep be keeping an eye on them.
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17.03.2009 - 15:22
Elio
Red Nightmare
Wolf is the most loved animal in metal.
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IntoPlighT said: "Slipknot is 15 years old how the fuck is that Nu metal?"

BEST. QUOTE. EVER.
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18.03.2009 - 04:03
FOOCK Nam

Surely its photoshop, I have the similar wolf howling photo as my wallpaper. By the way, for the band I ll check them out, if its similar to Limbonic Art or Emperor, as mentioned
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20.03.2009 - 17:11
Rupert

Written by FOOCK Nam on 18.03.2009 at 04:03

Surely its photoshop, I have the similar wolf howling photo as my wallpaper. By the way, for the band I ll check them out, if its similar to Limbonic Art or Emperor, as mentioned


You obviously read wrong LOL
"...and I'm certainly not declaring them the new Emperor or Limbonic Art..."
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21.03.2009 - 03:20
FOOCK Nam

Written by Rupert on 20.03.2009 at 17:11

Written by FOOCK Nam on 18.03.2009 at 04:03

Surely its photoshop, I have the similar wolf howling photo as my wallpaper. By the way, for the band I ll check them out, if its similar to Limbonic Art or Emperor, as mentioned


You obviously read wrong LOL
"...and I'm certainly not declaring them the new Emperor or Limbonic Art..."

Oh, I thought the reviewer mean they are not new Emperor or Limbonic Art, that means they are not good equally as those two, but maybe that mean they are similar to some extent not good as..because both Emperor and Limbonic Art are considered similar in genre to some extent.
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