Direwolf

Metal-Rules.com July 2007 Released: 2007, Blastard Entertainment Rating: 4.5/5 Reviewer: Mortuai
Direwolf is not so much a band as it is a one-man labor of love. Very few artists have the determination to see a project through when it takes seven years to complete, but that’s exactly what Mike Lerner - guitarist for Brooklyn, New York’s absurdly talented prog-metal instrumental trio Behold...The Arctopus - has done in the form of BEYOND THE LANDS OF HUMAN EXISTENCE. Direwolf was conceived of by Lerner in 2001 and during the inexorable march of time since then has gone through various stages or writing, recording, revising, and re-recording at his home studio before finally arriving at the finished project, a fifty-minute sci-fi-themed concept album that quite simply defies attempts to classify its contents.
Lead-off cut "World War IV" give you a strong taste of what you’re in for throughout the course of the album - absurd technical guitar work, futuristic-sounding proggy keyboard lines, and vocals ranging from black metal rasp-screams to multi-voice vocoder-enhanced choral clean parts to dramatic narration and back again...all in the first two minutes of the nearly nine-minute track! I’m not a big fan of the particular Emperor-ish variety of black metal vocals used, but they seem to work pretty well in this particular setting. Hyperkinetic percussion abounds, but its effect is slightly lessened by the fact it’s all provided by drum machine. Only slightly, though, because the effort involved in programming such complex and fluid-sounding drum lines must have been a monumental undertaking in and of itself. Time signatures and sonic textures hop from one extreme to another faster than a jackrabbit on amphetamines, a lush acoustic Spanish-sounding guitar passage drifts in from seemingly out of nowhere, psychotic shred-guitar leads fly fast and furious, yet somehow it all manages to hold together as a unified song concept.
Save for the short finale "Epilogue," which is composed entirely of acoustic classical themes and battle sound effects, almost the whole album continues this chaos theory-in-action maelstrom of black, death, prog, jazz, and ambient stylistics. Discernable but never overly-obvious influences read like a laundry list of progressive / prog-death masterminds...imagine throwing into a blender one part Watchtower, one part Meshuggah, a touch of Spiral Architect, a bit of THE KEY-era Nocturnus, a little of Theory In Practice, then setting it on Puree while adding heaping helpings of HUMAN (and following albums)-era Death, Cynic’s FOCUS, OBSCURA-era Gorguts, and TESTIMONY OF THE ANCIENTS-era Pestilence and you’re on approximately the right track. Or, if you happen to be a fan of Behold...The Arctopus, essentially add the aforementioned quickly-alternating vocal styles to their music and you’ve got the right idea. Simply put, the album is technically astounding and sonically simultaneously devastating and beautiful.
Like Lerner’s main band, Direwolf is not something everyone will be able to get into. It is an exceedingly complex and challenging listen that not only suggests but practically demands from even the most dedicated prog-head multiple play-throughs to take it all in. For those who can and willingly choose to warp their minds enough to wrap their heads around this dizzying and dazzling display of barely-contained chaotic virtuosity, it is an album that is absolutely not to be missed.
Grinding The Apparatus 5/5 ALBUM REVIEW by Chad Coup
Holy fuck. Some of my elite MP3 pirate friends back in college got ahold of some sick instrumental spacey tech metal. The name Direwolf floated around for a while and then vanished. Nobody knew if there was going to be an album, which human was behind it, or anything. It was a complete mystery.
Flash forward four years. Me, fearless webmaster Paul, Paultrain (aka Spiketrain drummer) and our bud Arun were at Swayze’s in Marietta, GA. We were seeing that amazing super-tech orgasm tour w/Psyopus, Behold...The Arctopus and Dysrhythmia and before the show started we all crowded around B...TA’s table. There were some cool releases to pick up but one was odd looking. It was a purple-y cover with "B...TA side project/Technical Space Metal" on the front. Intrigued, CD in hand, I read the name: Direwolf. It was real. I shoved it in Paultrain’s face and he instantly freaked out.
The dude standing behind the table offered that "the CD had vocals now" when he saw we were interested. After some rapid quizzing, we found out that it was the creator himself we were staring at: B...TA’s guitarist Mike Lerner. Three CDs were bought on the spot.
After the show, which was divine to say the least, the first thing in the car stereo was this album. A shriek coupled with a tech as hell guitar line filled the car instantly. This was going to be nice. "World War IV" starts out this epic, wholly diversified and unique record with the trademarks of a Direwolf tune. There are many different vocals styles present; most common is a raspy, black metal style, then a doomy, atmospheric narrator, some Cynic-esque vocoder bits, and spoken dialogue from the characters in this space saga. Heavy synth keys are also just as prevalent as the guitar work, which is beyond stellar. They have a very sharp, futuristic tone. A drum machine is used but it sounds really nice. A lot of care went into programming it. It doesn’t feel at all like a machine. There are many parts, passages, and shifts in tempo, tone, texture, intensity, complexity and all that other good stuff. This is truly progressive music. Near every song is like this.
What is shocking and enlightening to me is the heavy black metal influence the music has. Even though black metal isn’t my thing, this record takes what I like about the form and makes something that is impossible to categorize. In fact, there are so many influences, none of which are direct steals, which turn the album into a record with something for everyone that very little will actually comprehend. At times the record is full-on Emperor mode when, in a second, it will swap to Spastic Ink guitar leads, then, segue into a Gordian Knot pseudo-ambient part. Even some Meshuggah pops up in track eight’s first part. It’s so sonically pleasing, layered and technical that it’s jarring. There’s even a B...TA guitar part lifted from "Exospacial Psionic Aura" fifteen seconds into the song "Murder The Creatures Who Inhabit The Black Sun." This was undoubtedly done as homage to the real hardcore fans.
The album took over seven years to create. It’s easy to see why. Everything is so intricately placed, timed and thought out. This is really a professional piece of art. Lerner released this himself in order to get a part of what is undoubtedly an ambitious musical slate out to the public. If any music fans want to hear an artist completely uninhibited in the face of countless trends, image or other bullshit, go to Blastard’s website and buy the thing. It is more than deserving of real support.
Sea Of Tranquility 4/5
Fans of the instrumental metal band Behold the Arctopus will be rejoicing when they hear this brand new CD from Direwolf called Beyond the Lands of Human Existence, which is basically the one-man project from BtO guitarist Mike Lerner. If you can imagine what BtO would sound like with vocals, then mix in some Strapping Young Lad, Devin Townsend, Spastik Ink, Emperor, and perhaps Cynic, then you have a good idea where Lerner is coming from on this zany sci-fi themed release. It’s utterly insane, crazy technical, heavy, yet progressive, as layers of intricate guitar riffs, warped solos, speed of light keyboards, manic programmed drums, and a myriad of vocal styles, clean, growled, and processed, hit you from every angle.
While at times the feel is very much black metal ala Emperor, Dimmu Borgir, Bal-Sagoth, or Old Man’s Child (mainly due to the screeching/growled vocals and use of the keyboards), for the most part this is highly complex progressive metal with a bizarre twist. In fact, if you love Devin Townsend’s solo work and are lamenting the fact that he has decided to break up Strapping Young Lad for good, Beyond the Lands of Human Existence will be a must listen for you. Lerner creates plenty of bombast and lunacy here, the weaving frenzy of "World War IV" kicking things off with intense guitar passages, blazing drum programming, keys, and all sorts of vocals, clean and aggressive. He even throws in some atmospheric acoustic guitar sections in to add to the variety factory. "1,000,000 Enemies (Mercury’s Disaster)" is pure symphonic black metal with a sci-fi twist, with blazing drum blasts (hard to believe these are all programmed drums), dizzying guitar riffs, and harsh, screeching vocals. The three part "The Prophet Failed" really hits on the Bal-Sagoth influence, but ups the ante on the technical front. Featuring crisp, heavy guitar riffs, vocals that range from narrated, venemous growling, to heavily processed, whirlwind guitar solos, orchestral keyboards, and complex drum patterns, this is one futuristic metal ride.
Beyond the Lands of Human Existence is ultimately a very dense and adventurous release from a guy who obviously has a lot of musical ideas floating around in his head. It’s hard to imagine that Lerner had something like this up his sleeve considering the highly complex music he helps create in Behold the Arctopus, but it seems there is no shortage of ideas where he is concerned. This is intense, highly complex, and crushingly heavy at times, and will be a must hear for fans of intricate extreme metal.
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