STILL

Not as heavy as their debut "The Window Purpose" or as atmospheric as their second record "Cold Light Of Monday", somewhere in between II suppose. To me it sounds like a blend of RIVERSIDE and KATATONIA. Stefan Zell is a very good singer, at first I thought of Geoff Tate from QUEENSRYCHE , not as deep though.

And Stefan's brother Mikael is the lead guitarist, and I love it when he plays in the same style as the RIVERSIDE's guitarist, as he does on the first song "A House of Plague". This is my second favourite song on this disc. This is a killer song with some great atmosphere and heaviness. Very powerful at times.The second song "Bleeding is about being enslaved by insecurities and fear and how you have to confront and face and defeat them, or you will continue to bleed. Again I love the guitar on this song too ! "Taste Of Sand" opens with synths. A sudden full sound a minute in with lots of bottom end.

"Nothing More" is in my opinion the first average tune on here. It's a fairly mellow and laid back song. Song 5 "Sleepy Town" is interesting as the guitars and drums keep a steady rhythm while Stefan sings with restrained vocals "Is it this sleepy town or is it just me ?", kind of cool. For me the weakest songs are 6 and 7, then they impress me again with "This Cold Heart Of Mine". This one has a nice heavy sound before a minute. Dark riffs before 5 minutes. Then we finish with another RIVERSIDE sounding song that is my favourite called "And She Slowly Dies". Listening to the words and the beautiful, beautiful music actually made me emotional (o.k. keep that amongst yourselves, haha). I thought I was listening to ANATHEMA for a second, beautifully sad yet uplifting at the same time.

A solid 4 stars !

It's been a while since I last reviewed an album. Let's try it again with a new format for this non-5-stars albums (with those I will still do the track-by-track).

WOLVERINE: This is a progressive-rock/metal band, with not so much metal in their music so that they can't be truly compared with the usual names in the genre (Dream Theater, Symphony X, Fates Warning). Their style has a little, just a little bit of Queensryche, just a hint (a HINT) of Fates Warning, an extra two-hairs of Riverside, but the band that they remember me the most is another not-so-famous one: Poverty's No Crime. Wolverine's sounds a lot like that German band, with rather traditional song structures and lengths, not many long solos, and more traditional chords instead of the usual metal ones. Of course, their metallic side is evident but to me it is so only because of the distortion of the guitars, that's the only metal-element present in Wolverine's music, which lacks traditional metal riffing or other common elements of the sub-genre (like pounding double-bass drums or extra speed). For me, in my humble opinion, this is traditional rock music but "metallized" through effects like distortion and heavy singing. The singer is very capable, and not overly metallic. He may sound like Geoff Tate at times, but mostly Tate at his least metal. There are moments where this singer even reminds me of Elton.

WHAT I LIKE: I like the music, in general. It's very easy to listen to, it could be liked even for those who don't swallow metal too easily, as the metal elements are not that important here. In particular, the first song is my favorite, the only one that truly stands out. The bad has a lot of energy and some creative ideas, and in this first song all of that is evident, with a great chorus and a good, emotional structure.

WHAT I DON'T LIKE: The music gets too repetitive after the first track. As I said, that one is really catchy and intense, but the rest are all too similar, there are no elements that make any of them stand out from the rest. As I already mentioned, this band sounds a lot like Poverty's No Crime, but without the ability to write great songs. Because, in the end, if the music is not that complex nor virtuosic nor incredibly "prog", we should always get at least great, entertaining songs, and, sadly, we only got one of those. The rest of the tracks are not BAD, they're just too.generic?

All in all, a decent album, with some hints of greatness, but without anything that really makes it stand out of the lot. Maybe the style itself is the most original part: metal that really isn't metal but metallized heavy rock. But I've heard this before anyway. I'll give the album a 3, because the music is enjoyable and good, but nothing spectacular.

Recommended for: Fans of prog-metal that don't need too much metal in their music; fans of Poverty's No Crime, fans of melodic, if somewhat generic rock music.

Not recommended for: people that want some truly original music.

. or maybe it IS original, because it doesn't try to sound original to the point of getting intellectually annoying.

Give the album a try. Maybe you'll like it more than me.

Wolverine - Still

Wolverine used to be one of those bands who'd combine black metal with prog, just like bands such as Subterranean Masquerade or more noticeably Opeth did. However, Wolverine always sounded music wise more like a band such as Threshold, that is more trademark prog metal like, yet with the occasional growl outburst. Quite the distinction!

As far as I know the band's third album "Still" is their first completely growlless album and compared to their previous album "Cold Light of Monday" it is also of a far more consistent quality. However, this consistent quality means that quite a few of the songs are similar in style and therefore there is lesser experimentation or even progression as on their second album, even though there were a few rather pointless 'songs' included on that release!

Overall, I can say that this is a decent prog metal album, but still also not the most original effort one can get hold off within the genre. Still as I already sad, it isn't a bad one either. I think that if they'd be continuing down that experimental path, yet keep up with the consistent quality of this effort that they'd might very well reach prog metal heights!

Banal heavy-prog mired by exceptionally stale and bland vocals which plod their inflectionless way through a series of repetitive songs with too few tempo changes, too few memorable melodies, and too few instrumental displays of creativity to capture the attention of anyone who has heard many other bands play this kind of music much better.

There are a few redeemable moments of guitar and keyboard atmospherics, but fans of the groups which make up Wolverine's obvious influences (PTree, Anathema, Opeth, Riverside, etc.) will only be reminded how much more interesting those bands are than this rather derivative and melodramatic faux metal offering.

Definitely listen first!

Songwriting: 2 Instrumental Performances: 2 Lyrics/Vocals: 1 Style/Emotion/Replay: 1

A Wolverine with dentures.

Yes, despite a promising name and art cover, this Wolverine has plastic teeth and rubber claws. A bit of a let down I suppose, but these bands can improve with time. I'll give'em another chance.

The album starts with the magnificent A House of Plagues, a super-song charged with power (excellent keyboards and riffs) and emotions, it kicks off very well. Alas, the album never reaches that level again. It falls into a softer and blander music, even departing from the progressing metal genre. Although I have to give them praise for the song Nothing More, reminding me the peaceful atmosphere of Camel's Snow Goose! I know! It surprised me too!!

Some bands give everything in one album, sometimes in one single song. Wolverine lack energy in many songs and the songs are dull by moments. Just common stuff, done robotically and predictable patterns.

If their new album is not improving, I'll be quitting this boat thinking this band needs more edge.