Wolverine - The Window Purpose
Elitist/Earache - MOSH912CD - 14/03/2005
By Patrick Walsh
Having recently come to prominence with last year's Cold Light of Monday opus, The Window Purpose is not a new album but a re-release of the former's precursor that originally emerged in 2001. Bolstered by a remastering job and new packaging, The Window purpose is prog-metal at it's most engaging and least cringeworthy, and showcases the band's skills perfectly.
Prog-metal can be quite a touch and go affair, with seemingly hundreds of Dream Theater clones on the go at any given time, each one attempting to prove that they can play their scales faster than anyone else. Wolverine thanfully don't fall into this trap, and it's obvious that they're every bit as interested in creating memorable songs as making people go "woah!" Thus, The Window Purpose is a very good slice of progressive-metal, and actually manages to sound quite diverse too. 'My Room' is a winding, technical number, and although it seems as though Stefan Zell is going to revert to sub LaBrie-isms, he quickly manages to establish himself as a singer with a respectable range and emotional zest. Adding greatly in the vocal department are drummer Marcus Losbjer's backing growls, that truly serve to help Wolverine rise above their peers. 'Towards Loss' shows the best interplay between the two styles, a nice light and shade type affair, and satisfyingly heavy to boot.
The instrumentation is second to none, naturally, with excellent performances from all the musicians; Mikael Zell and Per Broddesson do very well to come up with plenty of interesting chops and leads, whilst Andreas Bagllen's keyboards sometimes recall Rush but never become hopelessly overbearing, their presence always lurking in the background with organs aplenty. The Window Purpose represents prog-metal at its least wincing, and although the obligatory concept can lead to the occasional lyric-related cringe, cuts such as the two-part 'His Cold Touch' and duet 'Leaving Yesterday' (that features a very nice female accompaniment) make this an almost obligatory purchase for any self-respecting prog-metal fiend.
8/10
Wolverine's Official Website
Earache's Official Website
Elitist/Earache - MOSH912CD - 14/03/2005
By Patrick Walsh
Having recently come to prominence with last year's Cold Light of Monday opus, The Window Purpose is not a new album but a re-release of the former's precursor that originally emerged in 2001. Bolstered by a remastering job and new packaging, The Window purpose is prog-metal at it's most engaging and least cringeworthy, and showcases the band's skills perfectly.
Prog-metal can be quite a touch and go affair, with seemingly hundreds of Dream Theater clones on the go at any given time, each one attempting to prove that they can play their scales faster than anyone else. Wolverine thanfully don't fall into this trap, and it's obvious that they're every bit as interested in creating memorable songs as making people go "woah!" Thus, The Window Purpose is a very good slice of progressive-metal, and actually manages to sound quite diverse too. 'My Room' is a winding, technical number, and although it seems as though Stefan Zell is going to revert to sub LaBrie-isms, he quickly manages to establish himself as a singer with a respectable range and emotional zest. Adding greatly in the vocal department are drummer Marcus Losbjer's backing growls, that truly serve to help Wolverine rise above their peers. 'Towards Loss' shows the best interplay between the two styles, a nice light and shade type affair, and satisfyingly heavy to boot.
The instrumentation is second to none, naturally, with excellent performances from all the musicians; Mikael Zell and Per Broddesson do very well to come up with plenty of interesting chops and leads, whilst Andreas Bagllen's keyboards sometimes recall Rush but never become hopelessly overbearing, their presence always lurking in the background with organs aplenty. The Window Purpose represents prog-metal at its least wincing, and although the obligatory concept can lead to the occasional lyric-related cringe, cuts such as the two-part 'His Cold Touch' and duet 'Leaving Yesterday' (that features a very nice female accompaniment) make this an almost obligatory purchase for any self-respecting prog-metal fiend.
8/10
Wolverine's Official Website
Earache's Official Website
