WOLF JAW (the Midlands U.K. based trio formerly known as The Bad Flowers whose 2018 album “Starting Gun” we described as “A burbling stew-pot of hot ‘n’ dirty rhythms, dazzling guitar-play [and] frenetic vocal paroxysms…” ) comprehensively re-branded themselves at the beginning of 2019 and released a slamming, raw single under their new lycanthropic guise, titled: “I Lose My Mind”.
After a noteworthy tour with the American funk-rock band CROBOT, the blues-rock / heavy-rock trio consisting of Tom Leighton, Dale Tonks and Karl Selickis felt ready to rock again with a new album:
“The Heart Won’t Listen” is due to be delivered 25th October via Listenable Records.
“The Heart Won’t Listen is the next step along for us in terms of song writing, our evolution, our sound, our life as a band,” explains vocalist Tom Leighton. “The record is heavier, more heartfelt and based on real life experiences from the past year. Lyrically its been a tough ride, it has moments of complete despair all the way up to wholehearted love and compassion.”
“We learned a lot from ‘Starting Gun’ and wanted to grow as much as we could with this next release, When we changed the name of the band almost 12 months ago now we knew we wanted to go heavier with the sound and go back to writing exactly what we wanted to write.”
“We went back to Vigo studios with Producer Adam Beddow who did “Starting Gun’”with us as we knew he would understand where we were coming from...”
“The title of the album is lifted from a lyric in “I Lose My Mind” (video shared below.) Over the past few years have found myself listening to my head over my heart, but this album has helped bring that back into balance…”
“Beast” is influenced by the band’s Black County roots and storms onto the highpoint of Castle Ring with all the power of an iron man brandishing a battering ram. This has corruptive darkness, splendidly bold furnace-hot vocals and a Sabbathy substance that leaks from the deeply rusted roots.
“Living The Dream” is a lot lighter, with a fizzy riff, thumping rhythms and charcoal vocals lumped against an ever-evolving song structure that brings a tasty chorus as well as a level of healthy lyrical skepticism.
“Hear Me” is arcanely dark with malleable chords that seem to flex against the hammered, rhythmic textures. The strong intonations on this number suggest conflict and emotion.
This is a mature collection of blister steeled, forge welded, and highly impactful rock songs.
File alongside: Tyler Bryant & The Shakedown, Rose Hill Drive
Words: @neilmach 2019 ©
Link: https://www.facebook.com/thisiswolfjaw/
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