Time Signature Ride the steel...

Genre: crust metal / metal crust

Originally known as Wolfpack, Wolfbrigade has been unleashing their fierce crust music upon the world since the mid-90s. Now, they are back with another barrage of d-beating angry madness in the form of Damned.

Opening the album fiercely with the in-your-face d-beater "Feed the Flames", Wolfbrigade relentlessly keeps pounding the listeners eardrums through that track and "Slaves of Induction" and "Road to Dreams", and it is only in "The Curse of Cain" that the tempo is lowered to mid-pace. And just as you thought things would quieten down a bit, Wolfbrigade throw the super-fast "On Your Knees... in Misery" at you, exposing you to more crust madness in "Ride the Steel", "Hurricane Veins", "From Beyond", "Catch 22", "Damned to Madness", "Where No One Sleeps".

As with most other crust releases, Damned is a molotov cocktail of empowering energy generated through the simple but compelling riffage and the powerful drumbeats. While I personally love that sort of energy that is encapsulated in crust punk, hardcore punk, crossover thrash and related genres, I am well aware that a lot of d-beating crust has a tendency to become monotonous in the long run. I think that Wolfbrigade steer clear of this risk by inserting guitar leads and melodic elements into their sound as is the case of, for instance, "Ride the Steel" and "From Beyond" as well as "Peace of Mind", which feature some melodic guitar leads and more heavily paced bridges, on top of the d-beating madness (I especially like the heavy second part of "Ride the Steel").

In addition to the melodic tendencies, there is a certain metallic feel inherent in the music on this album, as several heavy metal elements pop up now and then, as in "The Curse of Cain" and "Ride the Steel". The overall production sound also has the brutality associated with death metal, which also contributes to giving Wolfbrigade a metallic edge on this album. Sounding like Motörhead on steroids, Wolfbrigade's brand of crust punk (or crust metal, or metal crust) should appeal to both metalheads and crust punk fans alike.

If you are into the energy of crust punk and do not mind melodic elements and a couple of intrusions of the universe of metal music, then you should definitely check out Wolfbrigade's high octane, hardboiled, hardcore energy bomb Damned.

(review originally posted at seaoftranquility.org)