Wolfheart – Shadow World

Label: Spinefarm, release 21.8.2015

Oh no, not again such an album, and it totally sucks…

that I am running out of options to praise it without repeating myself?

Maybe I should point out instead what I don´t like. Well, the booklet of the previous album Winterborn looked so much better, with those photos of epic Finnish winter scenery, and this cute wolf-hound instead of those 4 dudes… And there’s no Cello-gimmick… perhaps I can spot some typoes in the lyric sheets?

So far for bitching. Shadow World simply is an overall fantastic release, featuring the unmistakable Saukkonen trademark, yet you never feel like “oh I have heard exactly the same somewhere else before”. Which as such is a feat, thinking of this guy’s back catalogue…

Surely the description that Wolfheart is a fusion of the former Saukkonen-projects Before The Dawn and Black Sun Aeon (here also plus Routasielu, thinking of the Finnish vocals and the Pagan touch of “Veri”) still holds up. Yet Wolfheart is much more. First, this album features a real band (not a one-man-show like the previous one); secondly, Saukkonen found a congenial partner-in-crime, err songwriting, Mika Lammassaari, who can pull off a masterpiece like “Last of All Winters” besides his wicked guitar soli (which he had contributed already on the Wolfheart debut). Thirdly, the unique style which cannot quite be pinpointed or easily defined. There’s blastbeats but also a gentle piano, brutal riffs but also catchy tunes and groove; Melodic Death Metal meets Epic Black Metal meets Pagan/Folk meet Thrash (growl-scream vocals) …

Gee I give up, simply take a look at this video clip and you know what I mean… and because Mr. S. has definitely deserved it for a long time, and especially with this album, I give a top-score rating.