BE THE WOLF are a three-piece Hard Rock group hailing from Italy. Their recent release
“Torino” taking inspiration from their hometown and with a list of influences from the likes of
JUDAS PRIEST and
SKID ROW I sit in anticipation for this to begin.
The artwork is… interesting. Initially I thought that the apparent face in the artwork was made up of car engine parts… Now I am not so sure. Opening with
“Undefeated” there are silky guitar hooks and the soft vocals of
Federico that catch your attention. But my initial thoughts are that I would pen this more as Indie music than I would Hard Rock, but that’s the beauty of music, it can all be personal interpretation.
“April” gives way to
“Failures” and here we have a glimpse of something a little bit heavier. Something can be said, the music is catchy and it is infectious, you cannot help but tap your feet and want to move a little bit.
The little finesse at the beginning of
“Teenage Mutants” is utterly delightful. The light and airy track really shows the heart of the record, with a lovely feel good and jolly atmosphere, but also peppered with intricacies and subtle background elements that take it from a good track to a fantastic one.
“Pretty Little Things” injects a bit of pace again, which I will reiterate a point I made earlier about the infectiousness of the music, I find myself sat here, just wanting to get moving. I’m just going to jump ahead to the final track
“Dancing Rhinos”, and I chose this track because I love rhinos. It is a solid song, but I think it may have been placed in the wrong part of the track listing; personally I would always prefer to have a high octane, fast paced finale that leaves me breathless wanting a bit more. The same as you would want at a live show.
Overall, this is a good album and I would suggest that anyone hear it to allow for expansion of their own musical tastes, unfortunately it wasn’t much to my own personal taste. It is much more Pop Rock / Indie than it is Hard Rock. I think that this will sit well with fans of
MÄXIMO PARK or in fact
JACK WHITE.
Songwriting: 7
Originality: 8
Memorability: 9
Production: 9