Wolf: Confronting Your Shadow Self
Whilst the grip of the pandemic seems to be finally dissipating, the lasting effects are still felt around the world, particularly in the music industry. Unbeknownst to Swedish metallers WOLF, they were about to drop their Feeding The Machine album just as the world was about to hit peak lockdown.
“It didn’t go as well as we had hoped. We released it on Friday March 13th, which turned out to be a very bad day. Everything started shutting down, we had to find flights home from tour,” admits frontman Niklas Stålvind. “That album cycle just kind of died. I wrote Feeding The Machine in a very dark period of my life. I was going through therapy to overcome trauma from my past and having to dig up my demons so I felt like it was a good time to just get it out of my system, not dwell on the past and start working on new material.”
To make matters even more problematic, WOLF were faced with bidding farewell to two long standing members in bassist Anders Modd and drummer Richard Holmgren. “Richard leaving was quite a shock to us. He just kind of phoned me one day and said it’s not as much fun for him anymore, he would honour our upcoming tour dates but that was it for him,” explains Niklas. “During that time Anders also decided to leave the band and it was quite a scary position to be in, but on the other hand, if they didn’t want to be in the band that was their decision to make.”
Despite this setback their fortunes took a turn for the better when a good friend came to the rescue. “Mike Wead from KING DIAMOND recommended Johan after seeing him play drums at a birthday party. We reached out, asked him to record a couple of songs and the first time I listened to his playing I was like ‘this is the guy’. He sounded perfect for WOLF. It just so happened that Johan was good friends with Pontus, mentioned that we were looking for a bassist and he got in touch. We got very lucky as a drummer is really hard to find. We went from panicking and having an album release date but not actually having a band to having some world class musicians who also had previous experience of working together so they locked in straight away. They wanted to contribute to the album and it made no sense to keep the old bass and drum parts in there so we rerecorded it all and it made a big difference. It was such an emotional rollercoaster,” says Niklas.
“We have such great chemistry together and from the first time we all sat down in a room together it just felt natural. They’re fun to hang around with and no one has any ego. I feel like I don’t ever want to change the lineup again. This is it. Pontus and Johan have been a real breath of fresh air and it’s always exciting to have a new songwriter in the band providing new perspective and different ideas. It’s kind of ignited a spark in me. Pontus is the best bass player I’ve ever played with. I love his style. I live a few hours away from the other guys so it’s very much a collaborative approach where we bounce ideas back and forth. Pontus and Simon did some work in Simon‘s new studio and put some demos together and that would kind of give me the opportunity to add the signature WOLF style onto things. I have a very strong need to write for myself but there are times that no matter how deep I dig I can get stuck and that’s why it’s so great to have such creativity between us.”
The album Niklas spoke of was their incoming Shadowland release which will be following on April 1st. “Shadowland can also be interpreted as quite dark with regards to subject matter. It’s basically about being alone in the universe on this tiny planet and that there is no one coming to save us. On the other hand it can be taken in a positive light where we are only here for a very short time so we should make the best out of the time we have. It’s also about confronting your ‘shadow’ shelf. Human beings are capable of terrible things and it frightens me and I don’t think anyone is ever purely good or purely evil. We all have that element of darkness within us and it’s about controlling it rather than letting it become destructive. I like to write about a variety of subjects and allow the listener to have their own take on it. I think that’s the most interesting way of writing.”
Interestingly, amongst a few of the other tracks on the album, what became the title track for Shadowland was not originally intended to be a WOLF track. “It was initially intended to be part of a potential solo project,” discusses Niklas. “I just kind of appeared from somewhere inside of me. After Legions Of Bastards I was really exhausted and needed to do something else so I formed a project with another guy and one of the songs we wrote became what we now know as Rasputin. I felt it was a bit too ‘out there’ but I let the other guys listen to it and they thought it was a great song for WOLF. Even when I try to step out of my comfort zone it still sounds like WOLF! It’s very easy to fall into the same habits and keep walking in circles. I just want to write good songs and I’m always open to experimenting with stuff. Obviously we sound like old school, traditional metal but we never decide we’re going to sound like JUDAS PRIEST. I think the secret is to just write from the heart, which I hope we do.”
Shadowland is out now via Century Media Records.
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