THE BEAST

NIGHTWÖLFF - Riding The Night - Reviewed By hellfire-magazin ! Check it out here at this link: https://www.hellfire-magazin.de/nightwoelff-riding-the-night/

NIGHTWÖLFF formed in 2019 from the remnants of 80's metal tribute band “Snow Dragon” and started writing riffs in traditional metal style to continue to express their musical needs. Two members (Ryan Scott and Graham Bellerby) were in their mid-twenties and loved all things metal, including the greatest metal era of all time, the 80's. The other two band members (Edward Weir and Jeff (JD) Scott) were members of various metal bands in the 80's and longed to relive those glory days. The whole thing initially culminated in a first EP (“The Whiskey Sessions”, 2021), before the first complete long track “Riding The Night” is released.

“Hell Train” opens with phat double leads and drives the song forward, frontman JD's raspy voice hovers above everything and finally leads to a well-timed, gripping chorus, as we know it from American bands from that glory days. You can hear the band's enthusiasm and joy of playing every second of the following title track, but the hooks here aren't as pronounced as on its predecessor. The brisk “Chasing Stars” comes along with a certain sleaze note in the best Scandinavian tradition, while “LHF (Long Hard Fall)” oscillates back and forth between solemn, groovy moments and faster passages, thus maintaining the level of tension.

“Still Waters” calms things down noticeably at first, especially since singer JD has a break from broadcasting for the first minute and a half, otherwise lively alternate parts with ballad-esque phases here as well. “On The Hunt” makes an impression from the first note, because it's not often that a song starts with lyrical excerpts from an old horror B-movie. Otherwise the track has enough drive and a catchy hook line to be one of the disc's highlights. After “Still Waters” already embodied something like a (semi-) ballad, fans of cuddly rock should get their money's worth with “Lonesome Road”. The soulful number with a slight country touch could have come from their prime time on a Poison or Mötley Crüe disc.

The brisk instrumental “Run With The Pack” is convincing, despite the lack of vocals, because the string wizards don't do any frivolous masturbation here, but show a cultivated relationship of crashing riffs and captivating guitar motifs. The remastered demo “Night Wolf” takes over the dynamics of the predecessor and starts with a long-drawn-out wolf howl. The track is damn tight and catchy and could easily pass for a forgotten demo from Cinderella or Mötley Crüe. I don't understand why the guys didn't completely re-record the number, but the song is strong nonetheless.

I wouldn't go so far as to put NIGHTWÖLFF on the same level as the aforementioned Hard Rock/Metal legends, but thanks to a homogenous album with a few standout tracks, one can probably speak of an appropriate legacy that still has room for improvement . Nostalgic fans should find easily digestible new food here.

I give it 7 out of 10 Hellfire points. hellfire-magazin

Release Date: 24 February 2023

FFO: WASP, KROKUS, ACCEPT

Location: Oregon, USA

Short Bio: Nightwölff comes from the ashes of an 80's heavy metal tribute act "SnowDragon" that went their separate ways in 2018. All members had some things in common: Traditional Heavy Metal from past and present and whiskey. In 2019 4 members of SnowDragon regrouped and started writing "riffs" in the traditional metal "vain” as a way to keep expressing their musical needs. Two members (Ryan Scott and Graham Bellerby) were mid-twenties and loved all things metal, including the greatest era/style ever, the eighties. The other two bandmates (Edward Weir and Jeff (JD) Scott) were members of various metal bands in the eighties and had longed to recover those glory days. The mix of two different generations of musicians writing straightforward, heavy riff driven metal gave birth to the sound  that is Nightwölff. All band members reside in Oregon and truly enjoy the new traditional metal scene. 

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