ALBUM REVIEW: Half Living Things – Alpha Wolf
Few bands in the ‘core world have seen their star rise as fast and as high as ALPHA WOLF. From their tumultuous beginnings, the band have never stopped the grind, the push for success, yet their sound has remained relatively constant. Hard, grooving riffs mixed with Lochie Keogh‘s snarling voice, with the added flourish of threatening to start fights wherever they go has made for a winning formula.
On this new record, Half Living Things, they aim higher than before. It’s as if they can see the ceiling that their scene resides under and are going to do their best to smash through it. The tracks on this record aim to be played in rock clubs, and the band certainly see them as the ticket to bigger stages. They may be well on the money because you can definitely see the Taswegians bringing the party to a whole new audience.
Half Living Things sees the band approach a crossroads. Their previous release, A Quiet Place To Die was incredibly well received, seeing the band jump up bills and headline tours across the world. It made no apologies for itself, being a confrontational, combative record aurally, yet it’s lyrics betrayed a vulnerability amongst the fury. It was around this time that the band became known for their stage shows, causing near riots when they played and cementing the band as a powerful force in the modern metalcore scene.
On the surface, given some of the song titles and the album cover, you could be forgiven for thinking that this is the record where ALPHA WOLF go soft, write a few chunky party tunes and push for the top that way…but you’d be pretty damn wrong. If anything, leaning into a more fun style has made the band even more dangerous. For the most part, gone are the brooding riffs, the slow burn sections. In their place is a desire to play hard, play fast and absolutely smash it up on every track with the debut album SLIPKNOT record scratches amp up the mood in the background. Lochie sounds like he’s having the absolute time of his life on every track and you can picture him conducting circle pits and crowdkillers like a deranged Motzart as he holds onto the mic for dear life. Opener Bring Back The Noise perfectly captures that mood, chock full of groove and slamming drums and Lochie sounding like if Fred Durst had been raised on a diet of BLEEDING THROUGH and PARKWAY DRIVE.
There was perhaps no bigger way to make a statement in the run-up to this record than to drop a song, Sucks 2 Suck, with the iconic, the legendary BODYCOUNT vocalist Ice-T. Not only is it a massive name and it guarantees the band get that mainstream attention, his delivery and arrogance perfectly fits what the band are going for and the song is pretty damn good too.
For those worried that the aforementioned descriptors of a fun old time mean less heavy, those fears are unfounded. Some of the bands heaviest moments ever are found on this record, in particular on Mangekayo, where the breakdown will test the stability of your headphones. It’s only enhanced by the production, which allows every note and syllable to be given space to shine. The dual guitar assault from Sabian Lynch and Scottie Simpson sounds better than any other metalcore record you’ll hear this year. Other highlights include the pulverising Pretty Boy which features some of the albums best melodic moments (more on that later) and the absolute crowdkilling anthem that is Feign.
In the past, one of ALPHA WOLF‘s weaker areas has been clean vocals. While on here they’re better than on previous releases, they still don’t live up to their peers in terms of quality and that unfortunately takes some tracks down a few levels. However, those moments are sparse compared to how often Lochie steals the show with his fierce growls and lows and ultimately, despite a few good melodies, they’re the most forgettable parts of the record.
As evidenced by the early response to the new singles, some people simply hate fun and won’t be joining ALPHA WOLF on the next part of their journey and that’s their loss. For everyone else, there won’t be a funner record out this year that also manages to be this heavy. Be prepared for this rag-tag group of Aussies to be challenging PARKWAY DRIVE in the next few years.
Rating: 8/10
Half Living Things is set for release on April 5th via SharpTone Records.
Like ALPHA WOLF on Facebook.