WOLVES

Band: WOLVES

Genres: Punk / Rock / Emo / Hardcore / Screamo
Related artists: Orchid, The Last Forty Seconds, Ritual Mess and Ampere.
Country: Amherst, Massachusetts USA
Years Active: 2001-2004
Song: "6"
Album: "Art. Culture. Work."
Year: 2002
Label(s): Level Plane Records / Coalition Records / Moganono Records / Clean Plate Records
This post's artist is from the August 2014 Mix. This is track #8.
You can download the August Mix#8 right here or get the new August Mix#9 here.
For fans of: Secret Smoker, Daniel Striped Tiger, Leer, Brauer, Sketchbooks, Gillian Carter, City Of Caterpillar, Orchid, The Exploder, For Want Of, Life At These Speeds, Transistor Transistor, Aim Of Conrad, Lord Snow and Yaphet Kotto aka PROPER Screamo.

Holy shit, if you don't know WOLVES and you consider yourself a fan of screamy hardcore bands such as Orchid, Ampere and Daniel Striped Tiger, chances are you will want to kiss me, at the very least. WOLVES contained members of Orchid (and a few other amazing bands) after the band split up in 2004 or 2005. WOLVES put out 6 records. WOLVES labelled each song as a number and included no title (with 2 compilation exceptions). WOLVES were a mainstay on Level Plane Records. WOLVES fucking owned.

The band was truly a pioneer for lacing punk/hardcore with intricate melodies that were not death defying (see Hot Cross) nor sleek/sexy (see Leer) but built each song and note so as to play what should be played and nothing else. No frills, effects or additional instrumentation were added as they would most likely detract from the primal and spontaneous sound that makes the band so unique and honest-sounding.

I could go on for a lot longer about them, but will close with a few song descriptions and the fact that my wife loves WOLVES. She even bought the LP after we first started dating and after asking her just now, she said this, "they are one of the most influential screamo bands for me and I found them much more accessible than other stuff you (Dave) were listening to at that time. I can still listen to the albums today and love every song. 'Art. Culture. Work' was also the album I was listening to when I got into my sole car accident. Goddammit."

"1" opens with a really catchy back-and-forth between a palm-muted guitar and some Orchid style open notes until the vocals kick in just before the 1-minute mark. The song is slow, brooding and uncharacteristically dark for the band, although most songs have a strange juxtaposition of light and dark moods.

"2" is classic WOLVES, bustin' out balls first with "Rev, rev your engine! Let's go! Let's go, let's go!" which leads to a driving last half of the song that for some reminds me a bit of Yaphet Kotto during their most lo-fi days.

"6" is a phenomenal song that boasts some really basic but energizing sing-a-long lyrics (as per usual). At 30 seconds the song goes all Daniel Striped Tiger meets some kind of British hardcore and it's one of the best WOLVES parts. All in all, this song is quintessential and is probably most reminiscent of later Orchid material. From 2:00 onward the band absolutely kill it and the driving nature of the instrumentals remind me a lot of newer Gillian Carter material. "Wash these days. Wash these days away. React to reaction. Reaction and failure."

"12" has a section from :47-1:15 that blows me away every time. The stop/start guitars and jingling hi-hat are fucking fantastic and probably top all WOLVES riffs.

"17" was the WOLVES track that first caught my attention when I picked up the WOLVES and Transistor Transistor 12" split from Level Plane Records in 2004 the week it was released, because I was (and still am) a big sucker for Transistor Transistor. The band has a thing for having decent first halves of songs and amazing latter halves, not unlike Gillian Carter. This track has so many good parts that it's mind boggling.

"18" is a good song, but it isn't until 1:05 when the band really lets loose and brings it. Seeing this song live would have been amazing, and I wouldn't be surprised if it was played as their closer. The fast parts of this bring Lord Snow to mind, which barely ever happens and also means this band is kickass.

I've included the discography as a download save one release (the demo) so grab this now before it gets deleted (they usually seem to last 1-3 months).

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DISCOGRAPHY

Click )==>here<==( to download 90% of the band's complete discography in mp3 form.

2001 - Demo cassetteEP (I NEED THIS!!!)

2002 - Art. Culture. Work. cd/12"LP

2003 - Simulation. Transparency. Alienation. cd/10"EP
2003 - Ampere split 7"

2004 - Transistor Transistor split cd/12"EP
2004 - Sinaloa split 7"

2005 - 80 Records And We're Still Not Broke Yet 2xcd compilation (contributed "If You Get The Chance, Set Something On Fire")

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(2002) WOLVES - "6" (from 'Art. Culture. Work.')

(2002) WOLVES - "2" (from 'Art. Culture. Work.')

(2003) WOLVES - "12" (from 'Simulation. Transparency. Alienation.')

(2004) WOLVES - "18" (from 'Transistor Transistor' split)

(2004) WOLVES - "17" (from 'Transistor Transistor' split)

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WOLVES out-of-print discography mp3 download

(download here)

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