WOLFHEART

A melodic death metal band with a pagan spirit, WOLFHEART have made steady progress over the last decade. When founder and frontman Tuomas Saukkonen unveiled his new project with debut album "Winterborn" back in 2013, the strength of his musical vision was obvious. This was a subtly new take on a well-worn formula, and one audibly inspired by a genuine passion for the art of heavy metal storytelling. WOLFHEART sounded like the real deal from day one, and their subsequent albums have done nothing to disavow that notion. Their last album, "King Of The North" (2022),  was a particularly strong entry into the catalogue, and while the Finns are arguably too extreme for a major commercial breakthrough, their music keeps growing in stature and charm.

Arriving exactly two years after its predecessor, "Draconian Darkness" is unlikely to shock anyone. WOLFHEART's sound is well-established by now, and there are few bands that have such a tight grasp on what makes lightly blackened, windswept and epic melo-death such an enduring phenomenon. But rather than just glide through the gears and give the people exactly what they want, the band's seventh album feels bigger and more ambitious from the start.

"Ancient Cold" is a glorious starting point: a rolling barrage of morbid riffs and keening strings, it gleams with classic metal fortitude, but still bristles with grimy, underground intent. As scabrous growls give way to full-throated, clean vocal harmonies, WOLFHEART reveal how adept they have become at writing songs that bridge the divide between the grim and the grandiose. "Evenfall" is a particularly fine example, an unapologetic death metal sprint, it harbors wild, guitarless detours, and a giant, soul-stirring chorus. The depth of imagination on display is impressive, and the urge to bang one's head is irresistible.

When it comes to melodies that cling to the brain, "Draconian Darkness" is amply stocked. "Burning Sky" is another song that appears, at first, to be a visceral, deathly assault, but within its taut, bloodstained lines, swirling, symphonic opulence seeps through every hairline crack. On the nails-hard and grubbily gothic "Death Leads The Way", WOLFHEART strip away some of their sonic trinkets and really hammer home the rousing rush of another fine chorus. On "Scion Of The Flames", they pluck a momentous, brutal ballad from the icy, night sky, and underpin its melodic flourishes with dirty, old-school riffing. Each song has a distinct identity, whether streamlined and snappy or weighed down with lavish adornments.

Saukkonen's crew have such a solid identity now, that to hear them still hungering for progress is a beautiful thing. They can still whack out a furious death metal tune like "Grave", which manages to combine old- and new-school thinking into something eerily fresh but palpably dark. But even at its most familiar, "Draconian Darkness" strives for more. Whether it's the orchestral miasma and ghost piano that twinkle away behind the vicious "Throne Of Bones", or "The Gale"'s electrifying, neofolk serenity and monstrous, epic metal payoff, WOLFHEART are taking their music to a higher level. Maybe a commercial breakthrough isn't such a preposterous idea after all.