In the 21st century, metal is moving in so many different directions that even the most devoted headbangers can have a hard time keeping up with it all. You have alternative metal, rap-metal (which is part of alternative metal), stoner metal, metalcore, grindcore, industrial metal, thrash metal (what's left of it), death metal, black metal, and even some young retro bands that are trying to recreate '70s and '80s fantasy metal. So where do
Wehrwolfe fit into all this metal madness? On their debut album,
Godless We Stand, the North Carolina residents favor the more musical and melodic side of death metal/black metal.
Wehrwolfe, which includes three ex-members of the band Darkmoon, isn't the sort of outfit that plays at an ultrafast tempo 100 percent of the time. While that type of approach can be exhilarating -- especially if you fancy the sadomasochistic pleasures of a mosh pit -- it has its limitations.
Wehrwolfe, however, prefer to change tempos frequently, and they bring a definite sense of melody to the table -- for all its brutality,
Godless We Stand is not an exercise in sensory assault for the sake of sensory assault (although sensory assault is certainly part of what they do). Lyrically,
Wehrwolfe favor the usual Occult-minded themes one expects from death metal/black metal; when your album is called
Godless We Stand and your song titles include "Trinity Undone" and "Unholy Crusade," it's safe to assume that you won't be hitting Billy Graham up for a job anytime soon. This 32-minute CD isn't terribly original -- there are countless other bands doing this type of thing -- and unfortunately, the production doesn't fully capture
Wehrwolfe's heaviness. Nonetheless,
Godless We Stand has more pluses than minuses, and it's a generally decent, if imperfect and less than distinctive, debut for the Southern headbangers. ~ Alex Henderson