Wolvhammer is a black metal band that was formed in Minneapolis, Minnesota in the year 2008. For people who are unfamiliar with this band (which I'm assuming most people are), Wolvhammer doesn't play your normal straight-up style of black metal. There's plenty of elements mixed in, the two most important ones being sludge and crust punk. When I say that this band mixes crust punk and black metal, don't think of newer Darkthrone because this is a million times better than that. Normally I don't go for the whole punk mixed with black metal kind of thing, but Wolvhammer does it extremely well here on their debut,
Black Marketeers of World War III.
Instrumentally you will get plenty of different things thrown out at you. The two guitarists, simply named R.M. and A.S, play guitar riffs that are sometimes normal black metal styled riffs and at other times the slow, crushing and "dirty" sounding riffs that wouldn't sound out of place on a sludge album. Then there's sometimes you'll hear some chaotic sounding punk style riffs and vocals. There's also a few solos thrown out here and there, most notably on the fourth track, Das Kult. Nothing really over the top. Mostly simplistic stuff, but they make it sound interesting enough to keep you listening. The drummer is, again simply named, H.R. The drumming on this album isn't really all that technical or something that you'll be amazed by, but you have to take it for what it is. The drummer isn't looking to blow you away. He simply does his job keeping the pace during the slower, doomy parts and also with some more chaotic and faster drumming. For a debut album, Wolvhammer pulls all this off extremely well. There's not really any point in the album where they sound sloppy or anything, it's all very well put together and they're pretty talented.
As for the vocals, this guy is pretty damn talented. I bet you can guess that his name is just two initials too right? Yes. His name is M.L. He mostly displays three styles of vocals on this album. First, since this is a black metal album, you're going to hear a high-pitched shrieking style. Second, you'll hear a punk/hardcore shout. And last, but not least, you'll hear a lower, almost death metal sounding growl. There's not a whole lot of the death vocals though so if you're turned off by low growling, there's no need to worry. Personally I think this guy can scream with just about anyone in the genre. His black metal vocals are top notch and I'm sure most fans will agree with me. It's also nice to hear the hardcore shouts too if you need a break from the screaming. M.L. also handles the bass, but as with most black metal, it's not a huge factor.
Like I said earlier, I'm not usually a fan of black metal mixed with punk, but Wolvhammer have pretty much changed my mind on the subject. If by some chance you are a fan of albums like
F.O.A.D. by Darkthrone or
Gospels of the Sick by SCUM, then you'll most likely fall in love with this album because it's a much better attempt at mixing black metal and punk, and you can't forget the sludge/doom elements thrown in because they're an essential part of this album too. Also, this is only Wolvhammer's debut album, so if you like this, then you can expect bigger and better things to come in the future from this young band.
