|
Label: Elitist/Earache
Tracklist:
- Dawn (2:30)
- Sarah (4:31)
- New Best Friends (6:14)
- Tight Rope (4:59)
- Carousel (07:51)
- Trust (2:52)
- Pantomine (5:07)
- Red Canvas (2:11)
- Dusk (2:00)
- Tied With Sin (6:06)
- The Final Redemption (7:20)
Musicians:
- Stefan Zell. vocals
- Mikael Zell. guitars
- Per Broddesson. guitars
- Thomas Jansson. bass
- Marcus Losbjer drums
- Andreas Baglien. keyboards
After the classic prog-metal of their previous album, the Swedishes
Wolverine move away from Dream Theater and company with this new and
surprising "Cold Light of Monday".
It is not fair to file this album under prog-metal, only because there's a
little metal here, with some hard guitars. The new effort by Wolverine is
slightly more personal, a dark and melancholy album, very atmospheric, that,
could be related to Pain of Salvation, "Damnation's" Opeth , Anathema or
Green Carnation, and even Porcupine Tree, among othe rbands. It is an
excellent album, very emotive, sounding up-to date and surprising. Nothing
related to what I was hoping to hear after having listened to their previous
effort, "The Window Purpose".
It is remarkable the feeling of the excellent vocalist Stefan Zell. Maybe he
is not the owner of a very powerful voice, but in my opinion, he is
currently one of the most expressive vocalists of prog rock. And what about
the music? So it approaches much more to contemporary prog rock than to
metal, as can be demonstrated by the abundant keyboard atmospheres,
synthesizers, pianos, mellotrons, melodic guitar solos, and quietness parts
that are scattered over the whole album.
Songs as "Sarah", "New Best Friends", "Carousel", "Trust", "Pantomime",
"Tied With Sin" or "The Final Redemption", have a lot of feeling, with great
moments of maximum instrumental exquisiteness.
Inserted between the main tracks, short instrumental interludes are
included. Very varied ones with sonorities as industrial rock, ambient,
percussion rhythms, etc., giving cohesion to this conceptual work in a very
effective fashion. Slightly similar to what Tool made in their masterpiece
"Aenima", though in Wolverine case, interludes are more influent pieces in
work's final result.
An excellent album that meant for Wolverine what "Remedy Lane" did for Pain
of Salvation in 2002. By far, the best ever made by Wolverine for my taste,
and one of the recommended works of the year, which already has been
strongly ovationed in the different prog sites.
Rating: 8.5/10
Ferran Lizana
|
