After suffering some technical setbacks in the process, recently On the Radar’ed UK duo Wolfshead have just today released a new single called “Sword of Fire,” and if you heard their prior self-titled outing when it was posted from their Bandcamp page, then you already know they set themselves up to cover a pretty wide swath of creative ground across those four tracks. “Sword of Fire” was recorded during the same session as the prior EP, so it’s not inappropriate to think of it as an extension of some of the same ideas.

And since the EP offered various sides of what will hopefully emerge over time as Wolfshead‘s own sonic personality, “Sword of Fire” follows suit, taking their self-proclaimed “garage doom” — they may or may not actually play or record in a garage; there’s very little of the lo-fi sensibility implied by using “garage” as a genre tag in their sound — to someplace altogether catchier. I don’t know what the situation was that led guitarist/vocalist Mart Anthony and bassist/drummer/vocalist Leigh McSharry to hold it back for single release, but it actually works really well on that level.

Particularly so because of its chorus, which is a hook punctuated by McSharry‘s steady snare. There isn’t much fancy about it –  basically it’s just a delivery of the title line — but it makes the track all the more memorable, and the fact that the Hampshire outfit kept it back from the initial EP speaks to a patience and awareness of their songwriting that has already served them well.

And in terms of building goodwill, there’s nothing quite like a free download to get the job done. Here’s “Sword of Fire,” courtesy of the band:

If you want to drop a line to Wolfshead to say thanks for giving their stuff away, feel free to hit them up on Thee Facebooks.

“I used to want to be a man of substance/Instead, I’m just a man of substances.” — Wolfshead

That’s a good line, and it arrives in due form on the track “The Garden” from UK doom/sludge duo Wolfshead‘s self-titled debut EP. The twosome of drummer/bassist/vocalist Leigh McSharry and guitarist/vocalist Mart Anthony bill the quickie four-tracker as “garage doom,” and though one hardly gets a sense of what that means from “The Garden,” which lurches forth at a marked crawl and is topped by deathly growls, but “Pissin’ Blood,” which follows, or opener “Warbringer,” which precedes, give some better indication, relying as they do on faster pacing and a more rock-based groove.

To that end, “Warbringer”‘s an absolute toe-tapper, and the backing gang vocals only add to its upbeat throb. The mix on the EP is raw, but clear and professional nonetheless, and if the shifts between the first three tracks of Wolfshead‘s Wolfshead set you up to think closer “Death Priest” is going to be another switch to grime-covered doom — that would make the release four songs: rock, doom, rock, doom — you’re only half right. McSharry and Anthony cut the pace, but instead of death-dooming out, they indulge a kind of heavy ’90s-style sub-psych, heavier guitar kicking in with the chorus following a more open-sounding verse.

As they manage to cover more stylistic ground over the space of four songs/16 minutes than most bands do in their career, I feel relatively comfortable calling Wolfshead a good beginning for the band. The EP came out in March, but I wanted to post the tracks in case anyone else might have missed them at the time. Here they are via the Wolfshead Bandcamp page: