It’s been a decade since Swedish prog metallers Wolverine last delivered a full record. In that time the world has got older, darker and more complicated – and judging by “Anomalies”, so have they. The Söderhamn quintet return here with a record shaped by reflection, doubt and the uneasy search for meaning, but also by the sort of musical ambition that progressive metal thrives on.
Frontman Stefan Zell has talked about themes of ageing, anxiety and wondering where life is heading, and those ideas seep through much of what unfolds across these nine tracks. The first single, “A Perfect Alignment”, sits at the centre of a three-song arc alongside “Circuits” and the opener “A Sudden Demise”, the band threading complex arrangements together with the kind of emotional heft that has long drawn comparisons with their countrymen Katatonia.
“And This A Sudden Demise” manages to sound shadowy and menacing all at once, Zell singing “I run from the darkness in search of light” as the album immediately establishes its uneasy mood. “My Solitary Foe” follows with a sense of catharsis, wrestling with the cyclical struggles that seem to define life’s tougher moments.
The eeriness deepens on “Circuits”, where the unexpected addition of saxophone gives the track a strange, unsettling edge. By contrast “Nightfall” bursts forth with proper ambition. Musically it’s among the most immediate things Wolverine have recorded, even catchy in places, though the lyrics come from one of Zell’s darkest periods.
“The World And All Its Dazzling Lights” is gloriously understated, building its atmosphere patiently, while “Automaton” changes the mood entirely through the use of sparse piano. The depth of the record is underlined by “A Perfect Alignment”, which at times feels almost cinematic, like a piece of film score translated into progressive metal.
“Losing Game” arrives with a far more strident introduction and carries echoes of Pain of Salvation in its emotional weight, before “Scarlet Tide” closes things out with harmonies that hint at something vast and unexplored just beyond the horizon.
For a band returning after ten years away, “Anomalies” feels anything but tentative. Instead it’s a thoughtful, richly layered record from musicians who clearly still have plenty to say – and who know exactly how to say it.
RATING: 8/10
