Album Review: Dire Wolf - 'Tooth & Nail'

Before reading the rest of this review, we need you to answer a question: Is there anything better than loud, frantic, messy and clunky hardcore? If your answer was anything but “Fuck no!” then you are politely asked to leave.

Bands, such as the subject Dire Wolf, are the kind of outfit that don’t really give two shits if what they’re making is “pretty” or “aesthetically pleasing” because their appeal comes in the fact that they are anything but standard. Dire Wolf’s sound is a mixture of hardcore, metal, mush, noise feedback and pained screams. This all equates to a five song listen of enjoyment that is ‘Tooth & Nail’.

Opener ‘Face Fuck Delux’ is seriously intense. Beginning with distorted screams and cries before launching into a relentless onslaught of sounds that shouldn’t work together but simply do, it grabs your attention. It’s powerful and driving, and feels very reminiscent of bands like Every Time I Die and The Chariot in the way it just bounces along at an alarming rate. Yet with sudden transition it goes into a brutal deathcore inspired bit, led by hounding growls and lows.

‘Evil Eye’, however, begins with a striking mixture of elevator music-meets spaghetti western right before and you guessed it, hurling into a big beautiful mess of noise. It’s an aggressive and ruthless song, and a definite favourite.

However, this is ‘Tooth & Nail’s’ issue: it’s a bit repetitive and as such, it can be a bit ‘much’. If it’s one things band’s like ETID and The Chariot and letlive. have then it’s that they know when to mix it up with different types of craziness. Whether piano laden tracks or just simple weird and quirkiness make an appearance, they change the flow and give a breath of fresh life to the music. Granted this is a five track EP but at the same time, there is a lot of room to move in what may feel like a cluttered and chaotic sound.

There seems to be a lot of hardcore bands that are taking the noisy and disorientated route in their music; and thankfully so! It's a brilliant sound that works and pleases for all the reasons it shouldn't and Dire Wolf have really encapsulated that. They do, however, fall victim to repetition and the EP can wear you down in just five minutes but that aside, this is a band that you need to look out for!

1. Face Fuck Delux

2. Evil Eye

3. El Estrago

4. Kracken's Blood

5. Tooth & Nail