Album Review: Wolfnaut - Return of the Asteroid
Reviewed by Matthew Williams
As 'Brother of the Badlands' begin to drop through my speakers, I’m sat waiting in anticipation on what Norwegian stoner rockers Wolfnaut have decided to release for their latest album, as the opening song is a heavy and melodic stoner stomp, encapsulating all that is great about the band. And I’m sat here grinning like a Cheshire Cat as the music just flows around me.
'Return of the Asteroid' is the fourth album from the trio, although they’ve been around since their debut in 1998, and they’ve written a collection of songs that are full of doom and gloom and ill warnings for humanity, with recent events impossible to ignore. Yet they’ve included a healthy dose of feelgood rock with razor sharp riffs and grooves that will get your head moving and fingers tapping.
'My Orbit is Mine' starts off with a killer riff from guitarist Kjetil Saeter, before his voice takes over and projects the songs meaning about the world growing increasingly polarized, with the frenzied hell of social media, before the sweet piano sound signals the start of 'The Mighty Pawns', which is part three of a song cycle that started with the song 'Wolfnaut' on the band’s previous album. It will be really interesting to see how this fits into their live set alongside the previous two, as it tells its own story of an alienated person floating in outer space, and it’s a really heavy song with awesome riffs throughout.
More killer riffs kick off 'Crash yer Asteroid' before the fierce and angry shout out against religious dogma starts up, with the most pleasing aspect of this song being the rhythm section from Tor Erik Hagen on bass and Ronny Kristiansen on drums, and its easily my favourite song on the album. They then do something quite unusual and take a song, 'Arrows', originally released on their second album in 2016, and strip it down to its core elements, by producing their first ever ballad, and give the song a whole new lease of life. A risk worth taking, as it’s a mighty fine song.
'G.T.R.' sees the band return their usual heavy and frenetic pace and is all about the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan, and is accompanied by another epic fuzzy stoner riff, before 'Something More Than Night' comes along to deliver a catchy song with a nod to a major influence of theirs, Thin Lizzy.
'Crates of Doom' pours out, all big and heavy, with the band going into new song writing waters as they reference the horrors being seen in Ukraine, before they end with the mammoth 'Lament' a 10 minute epic masterpiece, which is the second instalment in the song cycle that started with the song “Wolfnaut” on the band’s previous album, and when it ends, you just feel a sense of joy and wonder at what you’ve just listened to as it truly showcases everything that is brilliant about the band.
With all the songs being recorded live in the studio, simultaneously and in one take, Wolfnaut have produced an album which is truly epic from start to finish, and captures the energy and groove of their live performances.
