Grand Magus – Wolf’s Return

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Rise Above Records
Produced by Grand Magus

The third album from the Swedish doom trio ventures more into the realms of classic heavy metal than previous efforts. And to great effect. Both of Grand Magus’ first two albums, 2001′s self-titled debut and 2003′s Monument focused very heavily on the doom aspect of the band’s influences. With Wolf’s Return, the band have incorporated a strong dose of more straight forward heavy metal.

The main result of this is to speed up the songs. Only a couple of tracks plod along in the classic doom style. Somehow, mainman J.B. (vocals and guitars) has managed to write riff after riff of pure metal that are all crushingly doomy. This doesn’t happen often, if it all. There are not many records on the market that have so effortlessly fused the two styles since the heyday of the mighty Cathedral. All aided more than capably by the monstrous rhythms of bassist Fox and drummer Frederick. Those familiar with the true realms of hard rock and heavy metal, but that may not have heard Grand Magus before, may know of JB from his work with Michael Amott in Spiritual Beggars on the albums On Fire and Demons.

Do you ever listen to a doom record and think “OK, I get it, but for Christ sakes hurry up and get on with it”? Or to a straight forward heavy metal record and think “You’re showing off a bit, aren’t you”? Well, Grand Magus are guilty of neither of these things. It is doom, and it is pure heavy metal, but they don’t linger on any one melody or theme for too long, merely just long enough, while the performances are understated, and brilliant.

Opener Kingslayer doesn’t hang about. Two crashes of the cymbal, a slide up the neck of the guitar and its full throttle into possibly the fastest Grand Magus song to date. The main rhythm is mostly bass, with JB’s guitar playing a staccato melody over the top. JB’s vocals are perfect; melodic in places, and powerful in others. There’s even an excellent piece of growling in the middle over a punishing rhythm either side of the guitar solo. JB’s guitar solos are generally not the typical high-end wailing most axemen prefer to turn in. They have more of a fuzzy ZZ Top meets Black Sabbath tone.

Nine begins with a quite upbeat, almost jaunty guitar melody over the occasional thud of bass drum. After a couple of bars another rumbling bassline underpins the guitar melody before the very sombre verse. The chorus contains a very powerful vocal from JB before the intro melody returns ahead of an excellent guitar solo and the pair of chorus. Blodörn is a short instrumental which centres around a very ominous melody, backed by the occasional power chord and drum fill. It gives way nicely to the title track, Wolf’s Return, which has a mid-paced central riff throughout the first verse, leading into slower, doom-laden second and third verses. The mid-paced stuff returns for an anthemic chorus and as a backing rhythm to another wonderfully fuzzy and expressive solo. The main riff to Blood Oath has a very ’70s rock feel about it. JB’s vocal delivery matches, with far more elongated notes, almost Glenn Hughes or Ian Gillan in style.

Järnbörd is a short instrumental with an almost far Eastern style melody over a rumbling bassline, slow, pounding bass drum and sounds of birds and the sea. It fades out into Repay In Kind, with it’s pummelling verse rhythm, relentless double bass drumming and JBs urgent vocals. An excellent solo builds the song to a storming conclusion. Hämnd is another short doom metal instrumental led by Fox with the heaviest bass sound on the whole album. This paves the way for the final brace of proper songs, Ashes and Light Hater. Ashes contains an excellent clean passage half-way through that breaks up the heavy parts perfectly, while Light Hater is much slower than much of the rest of the album, with a lot more bass a slightly more angry vocals. The album closes with the fourth, and obviously final, instrumental Wolf’s Return Part II, which is exactly what it needs to be, a closing instrumental. Fairly heavy, but winds down to a fade out at the end, leaving you feeling like you’ve just experienced a movie or something, with a perfect, high-impact start (Kingslayer), expressive and well crafted middle (notably Wolf’s Return, Blood Oath and Järnbörd) and an ending that brings the story to a close, but with a hint of more to come in the future.

By far Grand Magus’ most accomplished album to date. A much less doom-laden outing than Monument, with hints of the ’70s rock feel JB experiences in Spiritual Beggars, a lot more classic heavy metal, and a very obvious passion for what they are doing.

“ understated, and brilliant ”

Tracklist: Kingslayer / Nine / Blodörn / Wolf’s Return / Blood Oath / Järnbörd / Repay In Kind / Hämnd / Ashes / Light Hater / Wolf’s Return Part II

Written by Andy Lye
More: Albums, Doom Metal, Grand Magus