Winterwolf — Lycanthropic Metal of Death

With Lycanthropic Metal of Death, Winterwolf, a dead- thought-gone project arises from the Finnish underground. After a break of ten years, these beasts have come out of their dark cave and are ready to go to the throat and spread their death metal sickness once again. The band features members of a few other cult finish bands( Demilich, Shade Empire and Deathchain)- so this might explain the time between records.  The album's title - Lycanthropic Metal of Death - is actually a pretty accurate description of what we have here-  Or even easier/ blunter: Scandinavian Death Metal thematically related to werewolves. The album appeared in June of this year on  Svart Records.

Things start quickly and aggressively with the opener "The Crypt of the Werewolves" followed by the second piece "At Dawn They Eat" and the third "Brujo". Partially mixed with a hint of Doom, all three songs begin with a relentless onslaught of fast riffs and aggressive drum progressions. This style sets the mood of the first few songs and keeps the tempo much more constant than the slower Death sounds used in following tracks. Very solid Oldschool Death Metal!

The further the album progresses, the slower & thicker, dripping riffs appear. Morbid Angel & Bolt Thrower come to mind as a potential influence that goes well with the powerful drum progressions and rhythms.. 

The fourth piece of the album "Devouring Entities Devour" comes with a doom theme, paired with the devilish vocal range.   The following track "Wolf Finder General" changes direction and the growl sometimes goes very deep. "Kadathian Doom" starts with nasty vocals to fight through thrashy, grooving moments and moods of doom.

With "thisishispit," "I Am the Beast of Death," and "Primal Death," we're nearing the end of the album, and these three pieces have a slightly heavier Thrash focus again, using sharper tones and a much bigger focus on galloping drums.  "Thisishispit" grooves in at the beginning, and then speeds up again while "I Am the Beast of Death" then gives us a decent thunderstorm of riffs! .With the final track "Primal Life Code" we get a real old-school Death Metal blast.
And so the album ends after 34:59 minutes ...

In finishing, I’d say the album will appeal to fans of old school death metal, with a more traditional horror monster focus. The heavy use of supernatural theme plays well with the atmosphere of the album, so every drum fill and guitar solo feels like the next step into the brutal metamorphosis of a Lycanthropy. For everyone else I should say: approach for caution, and don’t really expect any thing innovative, or maybe wait for the next full moon to play the album...