CREATION

Werwolf were named actually after the famous band Steppenwolf, which drummer Peter Besting liked a lot at the time (around 1970).Original crew included also Hartwig Kugoth on guitar and Peter Lorenz on bass.The band hailed from Olpe and was rehearsing regularly at Besting's newly built house in Wenden since 1972.Around mid-70's they were joined by Jurgen Goeckler on keyboards, Michael Schlimm on saxophone/flute and Ellen Wiederstein on lead vocals, this formation minus Lorenz recorded a 3-track promotional demo, but no label showed particular interest in Werwolf.Apparently this led to the dissolution of this formation with Besting gathering new members to save the band, Gerd Heuel on guitar, Burkhard Huckestein on bass, Wolfgang Unthan on keyboards and Gitta Loewenstein as lead vocals.Finally, in 1982, the band privately pressed about 1000 copies of their debut ''Creation''.

Werwolf played an elaborate and polished Symphonic Rock with strong CAMEL and RENAISSANCE influences, as many German bands did at the time, when facing the new era of New Wave and Synth Music, but refused to betray their progressive roots.They sound similar to EDEN, REBEKKA, SIRIUS and so many other groups of the late-70's/early-80's, they did use the synthesizers at a normal rate, but they still sinked into the organ sounds and the beautiful, melancholic guitar moves of the Teutonic Prog wave.Lengthy tracks with shifting climates, ethereal female vocals, some beautiful guitar soli, great keyboard themes and a certain symphonic background, propelled by the electroacoustic changes, the synth-based monster layers, the pounding grooves on guitar and organ and the smooth lyricism.I can't say the material trully belongs among the best of the era, but the arrangements are well-crafted with clever use of the organ in both rhythmic and symphonic lines (the latter remind strongly of GENESIS) and the unmistakable and dominant spacious keyboards of German Sympho Kraut Rock.All texts are sung in English and the 10-min. ''Der achte tag'' shines through as an excellent piece of CAMEL-esque Symphonic Retro Prog.

With the original vinyl hitting triple-digit bucks at auctions and being rather rare, several issues have popped out throughout time, some of them contain the three pieces recorded from the 79' line-up.All three are excellent 70's Symphonic Rock, even more diverse and convincing than the tracks of the original album, highlighted by the occasional addition of flute and sax.The band sounded a bit folkier, but their music was highly symphonic with impressive thematic variations and some superb interactions between the instruments.GENESIS, CAMEL, NOVALIS and Swiss ISLAND are good reference points for this material.

Refined German Symphonic Rock from the 80's with strong Camel overtones.Add an extra half star for the bonus tracks' reissues with the three beeautiful mini-suites.Warmly recommended.