Wolfheart – King of the North
Release Date: 16th September 2022
Label: Napalm Records
Bandcamp
Genre: Melodic Death Metal
FFO: Amorphis, Dark Tranquillity, Soilwork.
Review By: Kira L. Schlechter
Some bands become indelibly associated with their country of origin, for whatever reason. Melodeath pack Wolfheart, with their savage grandeur, could be from nowhere else but Finland – a product of too-brief summers and long, brooding winters, of immersion in nature and deep-rooted respect for the past.
So their latest, “King of the North,” the follow-up to their 2020 album “Wolves of Karelia” and 2021 EP “Skull Soldiers,” draws from the past. But this time, instead of drawing from fairly recent history (that is, World War II), each track is based on a tale from Finnish mythology, according to the bio.
In returning to these themes, the band – leader/guitarist/harsh vocalist Tuomas Saukkonen, newest addition Vagelis Karzis, late of Rotting Christ (guitar/clean vocals), bassist/singer Lauri Silvonen, and drummer extraordinaire Joonas Kauppinen – also solidifies what’s evolved to become their trademark sound in a series of especially succinct, tightly crafted songs.
“Skyforger” is truly an introduction in every way, from its length to its shifts in feel, instrumentation, and tempo. Stark piano crafts the base melody – a simple tune but hypnotic, a musical mantra. Guitar then takes it up, adding drums to give it force, then it shifts again to blast beats and a deconstructed take on that same melody. Their great skill is going from the completely singular to the completely dense in musical arrangements, with equal ease and respect to each. This is invoking the god, with praise (“Great star of the north,” he is called) and pleas for a safe journey, not just literally but figuratively. The god controls the elements, both internal and external: a clean vocal section asks, “Bring forth the winds/Cold breeze that will bring the waves/Lead us through the darkest seas/The endless waters/To the shores afar,” as if to say save us from strife in life, make our passage easier. Tuomas echoes that sentiment later. But he also notes that strife, also brought by the god (or life) is inevitable (“Bring forth the storm/Summon the gale and fill these sails”), and asks for a different blessing: “Guide us past the maelstrom/Shield our journey/Save us from the abyss/Save us from the deep.”
A wall of massive speed crashes “Ancestor” open as Tuomas introduces a character “born from the stars.” A subtle tempo shift and entwining harsh vocals from Tuomas, Lauri, and Vagelis herald this “Fearless and ruthless creature/Wise and worshiped leader,” then another segue into a lilting, swinging chorus has Jesse Leach of Killswitch Engage singing of this “Flawless creation/The beast without a name/Forefather of men.” He’s a very nice fit into Wolfheart’s ethos, by the way. It becomes clear of whom we’re speaking when Tuomas references a “Perpetual being leading the hunt forevermore,” who sits “on the throne of ice/Veiled in white.” Joonas is, as always, noteworthy – his fills are never trite or clichéd, his blast beats are as airy and light as they are punishing, his tempo changes seamless. He might be my favorite melodeath drummer; I find myself at a loss for words over his brilliance.
“Knell” is built on just an exquisite piano and orchestration melody, stately and majestic. The guitars then assume it, Joonas’ low-end drumming like a heartbeat. The “knell” refers to death, to resisting its siren call (“Stay awake,” the clean vocal warns, “Ignore somber beat of the knell”). Tuomas too drives home that idea – “Resist the endless dream/The sleep never ending/Resist the call of the stream” – and reiterates the idea in the bouncing second verse, to “refuse to follow the way of the cadence/Heartbeat of the end,” to “decelerate the time/for the morning to never arrive.” But the wonderful juxtaposition of the dreamy, alluring piano melody makes that resistance difficult, urging you to succumb to that peace and release. Joonas emphasizes that tension, that give and take, with his pulsating groove.
An onsetting uber-fast tempo slashed across by guitar evens out into the pleasantly pulsing melodic groove that becomes the touchstone of “Desolated Land” – it’s the musical theme they return to at points throughout. Tuomas roars about “this lifeless ground” “scorched by the sun,” a land “burned by the grand goddess of fire,” where drought has caused devastation: “Harvest the barren land/All seeds have been sown/Not a single straw has grown.” Relief comes courtesy of the “great father” (the god, bringing balance to the goddess’ fire, the idea of the balance of nature) in the clean-vocal chorus, where the rains come at last and rebirth begins, when “the waters … come and extinguish the fires of the sun.”
“The King” is magnificent, along the lines of “The Flood” from “Tyhjyys,” with Vagelis doing a wonderful turn on clean vocals. It’s not a similar song necessarily, but it has all the hallmarks of the earlier track: a simply lovely and poignant piano opening; a positively regal, heavily orchestrated main melody set to a stomping, insistent groove; and a chorus growled out by Tuomas against an aching, plaintive guitar melody and blast beats. (Don’t miss Joonas’ wickedly clever aside just before the verse starts – wow.) It may be my favorite of theirs since then. It is the tale of “the death of the king,” which by the feel of the lyrics might be a great and ancient bear (if you go by the accompanying video, where a warrior wears the beast’s hide). Tuomas rages, “Blood of the god stains your hands” and bemoans the “unworthy execution/in the heart of the winter.” It’s stunning.
Head-spinningly fast at first, “Cold Flame” launches into a quick groove that snaps back on itself at intervals, then into a slower, more luscious one, and back again. The title refers to the northern lights as a herald of prophecy and perhaps a reminder of violent death: “The fiery arc/Gate to the north/Painted by the blood of the murdered ones.” Tuomas and Lauri share duties in the chorus, and the guest vocalist here is Karl Sanders of Nile, whose bearlike rumble is at the lowest of low frequencies as he recalls the evil deed: “Then their knives cut deep/And let them bleed/The colors to the sky.” But there is beauty here as well, in the quickly-strummed guitar melody prior to the chorus and in the final, slightly different one in the closing.
“Headstones” is set to Wolfheart’s 6/8 groove of choice and features yet another deceptively simple but unforgettable guitar melody. Joonas’ blast beats are again unoppressive and instead are almost delicate, like a triphammer. His work backing the orchestrated/acoustic/piano section just prior to the first verse is especially on point. This bears a theme of resurrection, of ancestors rising at times of great need to save their people. Tuomas is charged with the task of summoning them: “Stone walls surround the boneyard/Leads into the domain of death/To the headstones of my forefathers.” The chorus, with harsh and clean singing, is a ringing invocation: “Rise from the frozen ground/Rise through the soil frost-bound/Awake to guard these lands once more,” they plead, that urgent melody as much a siren call as the words.
The foreboding musical feel that marks the verses of “Fires of the Fallen” suits the subject matter: a tale of a shameful death, an event “Concealed by the dark/A swamp that conceals a secret/A grave without a cross.” The chorus (and by the way, they are fully embracing distinct, if brief, choruses now) is noticeably lighter in tone as if in mourning, the contrast really driving home the tragedy, as the clean and harsh vocals again intertwine to describe “A tomb without a stone/Deceased without a name/Surrounded by the trees.” The stirring outro, pairing that opening melody with orchestration and choir-like backing vocals, acts as a final, bitter eulogy.
Hushed and reverent piano swells into riffing to start “Eternal Slumber” but the overall meditative mood is maintained. It’s a musing on death as entwined with darkness and nightfall, that after the “descent of the sun” comes “an hour for the shadows to thrive.” The second verse warns that death is never far off – “the scythe is just one step behind” – and if we can just withstand “These hostile hours before the dawn” (what a great line), we will see “the ascending sun” that “brings the flames of the salvation.” It’s ultimately, though, about the peace of death, that it is part of the natural cycle of things, of course, and the soaring cleanly-sung chorus relates that idea so well: “Defend the sleep/Slumber as deep as the waters/Shelter and keep safe/The soul eternal.”
This may be the band’s best effort to date – the songs especially effective, the guest appearances well-chosen and restrained. Wolfheart is brutal and beautiful at once – and they fear to be neither – and that is their great gift.
(5 / 5)
