I still have to pinch myself when I realise I have known these guys for just 15 months, as their music has become an incredibly important part of my life. I reviewed a show last year and was immediately a massive convert to their bombastic mix of full-on metal and dance which crosses genres to become something bigger than both. Soon afterwards they asked if people were prepared to share their stories of mental illness, and as that is something I have suffered with for many years I did just that. Mine is one of the stories you can hear on the incredible ‘The Collab Project’ EP which features reworkings of some of the songs from their debut ‘Secrets’ album, with the aim of promoting discussion on mental illness. Consequently, when they announced they were selling merch connected with that I ordered myself a t-shirt. When the parcel arrived it was far bigger than I expected, as the guys wanted to express their thanks for what I had been doing with them, and contained not only the original shirt I ordered, but a few others, sweatshirt, swag bag, masks, and music. I had not actually got around to ordering their earlier material, so it was great. Since then, I have been playing this a great deal, along with the many songs they have released as singles but not in a collection, but think it is finally time for me to bite the bullet and attempt an objective review (I haven’t written it yet, but already know I have failed).

‘Prologue’ was released in 2018, by which time the band had already been working for a few years and gaining a great deal of attention as one of the premier live acts in Aoteatora. All the guys had already paid their dues in other bands and had a great deal of experience of the music business and knew exactly what they wanted to achieve this time around. Inspired by Linkin Park’s approach to metal, they are a quintet with an unusual setup in that there is no bass player, and keyboard player Oli Lyons is a jack of all trades who may be providing additional stomp, electronic percussion, beats, live drums and backing vocals as well as tinkling the keys and climbing over everything in the hope it is nailed down and won’t move. His partner in crime at the back is Karl Woodhams who has no interest whatsoever in providing a “normal” rock backbeat but instead drives percussive rhythms as he hits the skins hard, very hard. There is more emphasis on actual drums as opposed to the use of cymbals, and he and Oli often lock in to provide not a foundation but a rising eruption which the other guys need to stay on top of. Either side of the stage are guitarists Davie Wong and Bahador Borhani (who also both provide backing vocals), who used to play together in successful act Shotgun Alley, so consequently they know how each other think and play, locking in. There is little room for guitar solos here, it is all about hitting those riffs and riding the wave being created by Oli and Karl. With this much bombast happening musically, there needs to be a top-class frontman at the front of it all, and in Michael Murphy there is a singer who was a pop sensation when barely out of school, having hit records before deciding he was being taken down a path he did not want to follow. As happy in musicals as he is on a rock stage (he recently was the lead in ‘Chess’), there is nothing he cannot do vocally, and somehow drives both the band and their audiences onto greater heights.

Five songs, twenty minutes in length, here is a band packed full of confidence and swagger knowing they are at the top of their game, and this never comes across as a debut EP. Coming from Aotearoa the guys know that to reach a wider audience they need to do much more than just play gigs and from their early days they have been posting videos on YouTube which has seen them gain more than 100K subscribers, and two of their videos being watched more than 10 million times while also having 320K monthly plays on Spotify. Such is the confidence of the band that neither of those songs are on the EP, which blasts off with “Affirmation”. Slowly the volume builds, a voice says “louder” and then they open up. But when the verse starts it is just Mikey and percussion/beats, slowly we hear a guitar, and then it is the bombast of the chorus and suddenly we are in an anthemlike singalong. One of the skills of WBW is they know how to make a crowd move, creating music which is solid groove, demanding participation and then they create singalong choruses so their audiences are always a mass of sweaty noise and movement as everyone is involved and the audience and band become one. All of this is here on the opening track, with Karl and Oli providing a huge percussive groove for the guys to react to, yet somehow there is always space and contrast within so one does not feel like we are being beaten over the head by a hammer but instead are being swept along by the sheer power of the tidal wave.

I love every song on this set, all bombastic all very different, all making me want to become involved. “Timebombs & Hurricanes” is another which is incredibly percussive and with Davie and B biding their time before they come in on what is one of their most dance-based numbers. It slows down, speeds up, has plenty of space, fills the world with sound, and one can easily imagine this being played at a club with everyone waiting for the words “This place is about to blow!” and going crazy. Just listen to Mikey get really high near the end. Contrast that to “Starlight” which is far more Linkin Park in nature, being more metal with dance influences as opposed to the other way round.

Back out on the road soon with Blindspott, before headlining what is turning out to be a mini-fest later in the year, with a new album and videos coming soon, 2022 promises to be a heck of a year for WBW. 2018 was the first EP, and they hit the ground running, so get this, get ‘Secrets’, get ‘The Collab Project’ and prepare yourself for metal and dance combined in a manner which takes it to the next level.

Rating: 10/10

Links:
https://writtenbywolves.com/