Album Review: Wolves Like Us - 'Black Soul Choir'

Wolves Like Us are very capable of doing a lot with a short amount of time, as demonstrated in the tracks on their new album 'Black Soul Choir', which slightly push the one minute mark. Take for example the blistering opener 'Days of Ignorance', which thunders with its rolling drum line and screeching guitars all set behind chant like vocals that serve as the fuse for what is to come.

It's not all in-your-face however, the band like to take their time getting to the point in most tracks, setting landscapes and allowing the songs momentum to build, opening up into soaring and heavy sections like the ending of 'Three Poisons'.

While the band do heavy well, it's the softer sections that carry the most soul, sometimes just with a simple guitar line like in 'A Wish of Fools', or the rolling harmonies in 'Your Word Is Law'. Sometimes the band shoots for down-the-line rock similar to the stuff that was popular after the nu-metal fad like Saliva, and while they perform this style well it's a little outdated.

It is the times when the group take a more Isis-like route that they excel, the music and vocals work incredibly separately but still together, basically if this band were fully instrumental, this album would still be just as interesting. The add in of the acoustic 'Lovescared' seems like a almost cliché addition for the middle of the record but somehow it fits in amongst everything else, like a moment of solace in between all of the chaos. It is however very "Staind" to support the post-nu-metal comments earlier.

The record closes with the mammoth 'Thanatos Wins Again', which takes the Isis comparison far more literally, allowing itself to build with waves of crashing cymbals and distortion stealing the listener away with its intense dynamics.

This is like more refined stoner rock, with careful attention paid to the structures of the songs. Basically Wolves Like Us are brilliant songwriters who fully understand which colours need be used to move you.

1. Days of Ignorance

2. Three Poisons

3. I Don't Need to Be Forgiven

4. A Wish of Fools

5. When Will We Ever Sleep

6. Your Word Is Law

7. Dig With Your Hands

8. Lovescared

9. Under

10. We Were Blood

11. Thanatos Wins Again