Berlin heavy punk rockers Howling Wolves released their second album, As Above So Below, on June 26 through Karma Conspiracy Records. It is the first offering from the band in five years since their self-titled debut, and it continues the four-piece’s stated grown-ups-with-hardcore-riffs intentions, pushing the balance between aggression and groove from where it was in the Beforetimes to the bass-punching middle ground of “Reclaim,” which slow down just where you expect it to speed up, or the earlier single “Bad Company,” which even with its galloping stretch holds to the song’s overarching movement. The album runs 10 songs and 42 minutes with “Night Off” (3:24) as the shortest track and throwing-elbows-in-the-pit closer “D.I.E.” (4:55) the longest, even though the last 20 seconds or so are a kind of residual noise at the ending — so yes, tightly packed. That’s pretty clear.

Germany has a long and encompassing history of punk rock, so you don’t need my ass to come along and start comparing them to American bands just because that’s who I hear in my head, but to go with all that careening attitude and would-be-frenetic-but-we’re-all-over-30-and-who-has-the-time riffing there are hints of the thrash and heavy metal of yore, not quite the grandiosity of NWOBHM, filtered through the hardcore punk that at least some if not all of guitarist Gregor Nick, bassist Hannes Pfeifer, drummer Riccardo Zander and vocalist Felix Weckowski probably grew up playing. One can hear in opener “World of Doubts” and the subsequent shover “Eye of the Storm” — gadzooks! there’s a video premiering below! — this amalgam of styles coming together. Crucially, the band seem conscious of what they’re doing but not necessarily held back by any self-imposed limits on their sound. Sharp as it is and as hammered out as the Jan Oberg-recorded/mixed As Above So Below is in the end-product, the songwriting feels organic in that way.

So which side wins out? Metal, punk or heavy rock? Hard to call it, so I won’t. Weckowski‘s vocals — cleaner than on the self-titled, less throaty and more melodic, still rooted in hardcore — add to the gotta-do-this-now vibe of a cut like “Human Error,” riding the start-stop riff effectively and knowing precisely where to take the chorus like someone who’s been there before, while but for its relatively laid back delivery and fuzzier tone the subsequent “Grin” could be outright thrash and “Parting Ways” may or may not pull a little d-beat into its sweaty run to underscore its point. It’s not necessarily that Howling Wolves sound like they have multiple writers — they very well might, I don’t know — but As Above So Below is unified more through performance than the similar purposes of its tracks, and that essentially lets the band go where they want in a given song. I’d say they keep it within reason, but the transition that seems to be taking place in bringing them from hardcore punk to heavy rock is still happening, and that can be heard in the intensity of “Parting Ways” before “Treadmills” steps a little further into nodder groove.

The clip for “Eye of the Storm” follows the aesthetic pattern in bringing together different sides. Skateboards, Adidas and ’90s hip-hop hand gesturing meets leg kicks, constant motion and more than an edge of good humor, so yes, they’ve got their bases duly covered. Same applies to As Above So Below, really, and even the album’s title seems to acknowledge a multifaceted nature, despite being a familiar enough turn of phrase. Hardcore punk isn’t ever going to be everybody’s jam — nine times out of 10, it’s not really mine either — but the more you dig Howling Wolves‘ tracks, the more there is to hear that they’re bringing to their foundation, expanding beyond the debut with a due sense of putting the songs first and letting the rest sort itself out later. And speaking of later, As Above So Below was recorded with Oberg (Earth Ship, Slowshine, Grin, etc.) at Hidden Planet Studio in earliest 2021, which means that even as it came out the recordings were nearly 18 months old. Even if they go five years between full-lengths again, they seem to be well on their way.

Video and PR wire info follow here. Please enjoy:

Howling Wolves, “Eye of the Storm” video premiere

The Howling Wolves’s Sound on the new record is like a mix of 80s Metal guitar heaviness, 90s Grunge catchiness, on a Stoner Rock vibe transported with the urgency of Hardcore Punk. So figure out! We call it SabbathPunk because it feels like a mix of Black Sabbath HardRock Metal and HardcorePunk with a nice dose of melody. So basically a hybrid of everything nice and heavy.

Independent from the actual pandemic shit the songs deal with failure of humanity on all its levels. A lot of personal reflection on both sides of the spectrum are happening and end with a positive note. Its about losing deadweight like unnecessary relationships or hiding from the outside world. There is a will for better times and new starts. But in the end its: Fuck Them All, I will do it on my own.

TRACKLIST
1. World Of Doubts 04.27
2. Eye Of The Storm 04.03
3. Bad Company 03.30
4. Night Off 03.24
5. Human Error 04.27
6. Grin 04.03
7. Parting Ways 04.14
8. Treadmills 04.41
9. Reclaim 04.20
10. D.I.E. 04.55

LINE UP
Riccardo Zander – drums
Gregor Nick – guitar
Hannes Pfeifer – bass
Felix Weckowski – vocals

Howling Wolves, As Above So Below (2022)

Howling Wolves on Facebook

Howling Wolves on Instagram

Howling Wolves on Bandcamp

Karma Conspiracy Records on Facebook

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Karma Conspiracy Records website

Tags: As Above so Below, Berlin, Germany, Howling Wolves, Howling Wolves As Above So Below, Karma Conspiracy Records

This entry was posted on Monday, August 15th, 2022 at 6:29 am and is filed under Bootleg Theater. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.