Watch out Europe, as the mighty Written By Wolves will soon be heading your way as they undertake a multi-country tour which they have arranged by themselves with no record label support. They will be hitting Italy, Germany, Austria, Poland and The Netherlands before two dates in the UK. Before that they have released their fourth single of 2023, “Altar”, and one look at the cover shows it is closely linked to the others from earlier in the year, ‘Give ‘em Hell’, ‘Misery’ and ‘Take Me Home’. This is another of their more commercial numbers with far less emphasis on guitars during the verse, concentrating mostly on the keyboards and vocals, but they are solidly back in for the bridge and choruses. For those who have yet to come across WBW then bear in mind they have some pretty impressive stats for a band from the end of the world, with more than 320,000 monthly listeners, 52,000 followers and more than 66 million streams on Spotify, more than 121,000 subscribers and 77 million views on YouTube.

It is almost impossible to understand these guys are unsigned and doing all this on their own as this is highly polished and produced music, packed full of hooks, with one of the top NZ singers at the front who is able to deal with whatever the band are throwing at him, singing sweetly or hitting the high notes with ease. “Altar” is a song aimed firmly at the American charts, with a dynamic video showing just what the boys are made of. I know that when this is performed live it will be way heavier, but in its current style it is massively dramatic and over the top with loads of contrast and dynamics. I am convinced that WBW are going to break out of NZ in the next few years, and with the commitment to tour in Europe on their own dime plus the new album coming out in 2024, the world is their oyster. Written By Wolves – remember the name.

Rating: 8/10

Links:
https://writtenbywolves.com/