{"id":17769,"date":"2014-03-02T00:00:42","date_gmt":"2014-03-02T00:00:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/?p=17769"},"modified":"2014-03-05T12:52:16","modified_gmt":"2014-03-05T12:52:16","slug":"album-review-blackwolf-the-hunt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/album-review-blackwolf-the-hunt\/","title":{"rendered":"BLACKWOLF – The Hunt (2014) | Album \/ EP Reviews @ Metal Forces Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"

BLACKWOLF
The Hunt<\/strong><\/span>
\n\"\"
\nSelf-released (2014)<\/span>
Rating: 6\/10<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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The debut album from British rockers BlackWolf is one I\u2019ve wanted to hear from some while due to the buzz initially surrounding them. The quintet features Scott Sharp on vocals, Ben Webb on bass, Tom Lennox-Brown on drums and the twin guitar groove of Jason Cronin and Jason Greenhill. And it\u2019s fair to say that The Hunt<\/em> is best experienced with the volume on ten.<\/p>\n

From the smoky riffs, the cutting edge raunch \u2019n\u2019 roll riffs and Sharp\u2019s crystal clear, soulful vocals I\u2019m oddly reminded of an intriguing mix of Danzig and Led Zeppelin<\/a> \u2013 especially on the opener \u2018Mr Maker\u2019 \u2013 although these guys are very much part of that current British invasion which includes the likes of Jettblack and Voodoo Six.<\/p>\n

This is very much traditional rock \u2019n\u2019 roll exhibiting in parts some swagger, sway and soul and so it\u2019s no surprise that the songs have more than a touch of retro with a modern spring. Sure, there\u2019s nothing innovative at all about The Hunt<\/em>, and it is at times a ballsy rocker of a record which could be accused of lacking meat, but there are moments throughout when it seems confident to stand on its own two feet, although at other times it doesn\u2019t seem so self-assured.<\/p>\n

With so many modern bands attempting a stripped back, down to earth style of rock it seems that the hordes are ever-flowing, and within this invasion there seems to be many bereft of pomp. I\u2019m not sure where I really stand with The Hunt<\/em> because for every good moment, like \u2018Keep Moving On\u2019 and \u2018Trouble\u2019, there are too many moments when the band becomes rather stale sounding like just every other rock \u2019n\u2019 roll wannabe. There is certainly a distinct lack of presence with a majority of these upcoming rock bands, and for me, despite their talent and occasional strut, BlackWolf comes up short every time.<\/p>\n

The press release is keen to promote the band as having \u201cpounding rhythms\u201d and being \u201cenergetic\u201d and yet I can\u2019t help but feel that they have a tired sound, relying on the vintage to create something that flits between mediocre and blues-tinged. Everything about the record, from the hip \u2018Only Said In Silence\u2019 through to the grooving jerk of \u2018House Of Emerald Wine\u2019 to the closing hooks of the sultry \u2018Sleepwalking\u2019 and sleazy \u2018Sea of Mercy\u2019, suggests something half-baked and merely solid; nothing more and nothing less.<\/p>\n

At times quintessentially British and sewn together with a rich vein of the blues and reek of cool, The Hunt<\/em> too often flatters to deceive in that the songs just aren\u2019t strong enough to enable BlackWolf to stand above the huge crowd of bands with similar intentions. An extremely disappointing record indeed, and one which reeks of the bland. <\/p>\n

Neil Arnold<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BLACKWOLFThe Hunt Self-released (2014)Rating: 6\/10 The debut album from British rockers BlackWolf is one I\u2019ve wanted to hear from some while due to the buzz initially surrounding them. The quintet features Scott Sharp on vocals, Ben Webb on bass, Tom Lennox-Brown on drums and the twin guitar groove of Jason Cronin and Jason Greenhill. And […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,1103],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17769","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-album-ep-reviews","category-blackwolf"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17769","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17769"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17769\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17773,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17769\/revisions\/17773"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17769"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17769"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17769"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}