Written By Wolves: Give ‘Em Hell (2023) single

They may not have released any new material in 2022, but everyone knew the boys were working on their next album, and if you were fortunate enough to see them play then you will have already heard this as they were using this as the opening number. In many ways this encapsulates everything which is Written By Wolves in one song – if you want to know why so many of us keep raving about them, then this will demonstrate why. At just 4 minutes in length, this has so many twists and turns that the listener never knows where it is going to lead. Various different layered sounds take us into Kodo style drums, and then everything dies away, with a phased guitar in the distant background as Mikey gently sings “Take me to your leader”, and then he lets loose a scream, the guitars are in, and almost as soon as it has begun we are bring thrown in a different direction, then another, and then another. Within the first sixty seconds of this song we have heard all the instruments and vocals being treated in multiple different styles as we are sonically being thrown around, all the while understanding the music is both heavy and intensely commercial, and just so damn catchy.

If ever anyone wants to know how contrast can be used to great effect in just one song, then put this on, as at the back Karl Woodhams (drums) and Oli Lyons (keyboards, percussion) are all over the place as they provide different foundations, while either side of the singer there is Bahador and Davie crunching riffs, or keeping it tight, and then at the heart of it all is Michael Murphy, singing sweetly, or screaming, being gentle or ramming it home. They are mixing pop style mentality with dance stylings and then throwing it into the mixer with metal and coming out with something which is influenced by the likes of Linkin Park but being put on steroids as WBW take it to new heights. With nearly 70 million views on YouTube, 60 million streams on Spotify, they are already known to many, but if the new album contains as many surprises as this one song, that is only going to explode.

2023 will be the year of Written By Wolves. Are you ready?

Rating: 10/10