Old school and melodic Greek Black Metal. Second EP. 8-page booklet. Inlay printed on both sides. Limited 500 copies
Wolfhowl is a greek black metal band which was formed in June of 2009 by Faethon .After a long time, in January of 2012, Wolfhowl released the first EP, "My Return To The Mountains", by "Azermedoth Records", in a limited edition of 600 copies. A year later, in February of 2013, the wolf howled again and a second release came over, a split-album with another greek black metal band, Nipenthis, by "Azermedoth Records", for one more time. In 2016, the third work of the band,"The Purity Of Mother Nature", EP, was released in cd format by War Productions and in tape format by Metal Throne Productions. I like it when bands don’t rush things and WOLFHOWL definitely don’t. This one man band hailing us from the beautiful Ioanian island of Kefalonia is here four years after the debut EP, “My Return to the Mountains”, with its sophomore EP containing four tracks and clocking in approximately 21 minutes. I don’t think anyone who’s into metal would ever make a mistake as to the approach WOLFHOWL choose to follow. This is a pure black metal band following reverently the principles of the first era of this genre, which means there is no place for keyboards here, just pure, raw black metal ranging from mid paced to up tempo. Faethon who is the man behind WOLFHOWL has done a great job with everything from the songwriting to the compositions and from the arrangements to the execution of the songs… you see Faethon is responsible for everything and the fact that he has written the songs, played all the instruments and did the vocals makes this even more special. The improvement is more than obvious and the songs have the necessary darkness; they are black and sharp and are surrounded by a cold atmosphere that fits perfectly to the lyrics that sing about Mother Nature. The riffs are catchy, the melodies are dark and tempting and the rhythm section is solid and supports the songs really well… What else can someone ask for from an old school black metal release? WOLFHOWL prove to be a force of nature and show us here that it’s a band with potential, a band the black metallers should keep in mind and check out. Christine Parastatidou. A solo project initiated by Greek musician Faethon, Wolfhowl was formed in 2009. The project recently dropped its second EP, The Purity of Mother Nature, through War Productions (for CD and digital) and Metal Throne Productions (for cassette), featuring four tracks of nature worshiping black metal. Had I not heard some clips prior, there's really no way that this release would have fallen into my hands, as the logo and name are reminiscent of any number of really crummy (oft-NS) black metal projects.
Despite the slightly off putting name and logo, Wolfhowl offers a competent dose of striking and sweeping black metal. It's the type of black metal that induces naturalistic vibes, bordering on windswept atmospheric black metal, without falling into the stereotypical, long winded crutches that so many acts rely on. The tracks are all fairly short to average length for the style, ranging from five to six minutes. It makes for a concise and compact album that delivers its point without overstaying its welcome. The riffs are rooted in the second wave, with frequent nods to Satyricon or Immortal, yet the pacing and production trades frostbitten grimness for a warmer sound.
Basically The Purity of Mother Nature borrows from both niches, offering something that brings ruminating trem riffing and fiery chord progressions amid a bed of garbled growls and pummeling percussion. It invokes that sense of wonder and awe that is usually brought on the more atmospheric side of things, yet it remains rooted to a pretty straight forward black metal style. Faethon brings a constant barrage of riffs that sound nostalgic, without stooping to levels of downright aping past works. It's not exactly inventive, but that's not really the point. Despite the obvious influence wearing on the sleeve, Wolfhowl is certainly an act to keep an eye on. Wolfhowl are a solo project from Greece that plays a very raw and atmospheric form of black metal and this is a review of his 2016 ep "The Purity Of Mother Nature" which was released by War Productions. Open note riffing starts off the ep before going into a heavier direction where you can also hear all of the musical instruments that are present on the recording while the vocals are mostly grim black metal screams and the solos and leads have a very modern yet melodic style to them and blast beats can be heard during the faster sections of the songs.
A lot of the riffing brings in a decent amount of melody and the tremolo picking also gives the music more of a raw black metal feeling and the songs also bring in a great mixture of slow, mi paced and fast parts and some of the tracks are long and epic in length and there is also a brief use of spoken word parts and clean guitars are added on the last track
Wolfhowl plays a musical style that takes influences from the more atmospheric side of the genre while also taking it more into a raw and heavier direction, the production sounds very dark a nd raw while the lyrics cover nature, winter and darkness themes.
In my opinion Wolfhowl are a very great sounding raw and atmospheric black metla solo project and if you are a fan of this musical genre, you should check out this ep. RECOMMENDED TRACKS INCLUDE "By The Power" and "Mother Nature's Revenge".
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