Wolves At The Gate’s new album Wasteland is thematically described by vocalist Steve Cobucci as “a metaphor for a frame of mind that I don’t want to live in, but a world I feel myself drawn back into over and over”.
It’s a fantastic concept that I think the band really nailed here with this record.
The record starts off with a minute and a half ominous soundscape that slowly builds in INT(r)o, you hear some subdued screams in the back before the rest of the band suddenly hits some chords to build the tension.
The track immediately fades into (The Wasteland) PAIN, right away we get pummeled by vocalist Nick Detty’s screams. Being just under two minutes, the first real taste of the record is all gas no breaks. It also doesn’t follow the typical song structure you’d expect; There’s some of Cobucci’s cleans on the track but more in a refrain style over your traditional hook, it adds a nice layer that doesn’t repeat or overstay it’s welcome.
Later we have SMOKE (False Devils) which sees the band honing into that catchier side they excel so well at. The verses have a call and response vibe going on with Detty doing a mixture of whispers and screams between Cobucci’s quick anthemic bits. The chorus is massive as they belt out “blame it on the false, blame it on the false devil”, which will surely be a fantastic sing along in a live setting.
Coming into the second half of the record we have MEMENTO MORI. This one is a more melodic cut again, seeing Cobucci taking the forefront for majority of the track. It starts off on a bit of a subtle note, with guitarist Joey Alarcon doing some soft drawn-out chords underneath of Cobucci’s vocal. It also features one of the catchiest melodies on the record as the pre-chorus goes “light burns a page, turns another life, that pains you just falls through the hourglass so we all know this pain”. The song closes us out with a bang as Detty screams overtop of some dramatic synths.
To close out the record we have UNREST, which hits us off right away with a bouncy riff from Alarcon. The verses have a nice harmonizing between both Cobucci’s beautiful passage and Detty’s gritty screams. The song thematically wraps up the record nicely as it brings home what Cobucci stated about the record above; being a state of mind you don’t want to be apart of but keep drawing yourself towards. This is most prominent on the final moments of the record when a slight whisper closes the record off with “come back to the wasteland, come out of the wasteland.”
Wolves at the Gate have been an extremely consistent band throughout their career and have really polished their sound on the past few records. Wasteland really is no exception; with the band’s addition of electronic soundscapes and interludes to set the atmosphere to these tracks, what we have is a product that’s extremely tight and laser focused.
There isn’t a minute wasted throughout its runtime and I will go as far to say that this is their best record to date.
9/10
Wasteland is available everywhere now via Solid State Records.
