Queen Wolf and Snakefeast, two bands under Baltimore's Grimoire Records, have put together a split album that is as diverse as they come.
Both bands are hard to put any label on, as they both vary so greatly in their sounds. Queen Wolf is a five-piece, female fronted band, consisting of the vocal styles of Sarah Heiderman, Mike Walls on rhythm guitar, Alex Vallejo on lead, Thejus Chakravarthy on bass, and Chuck Hannan on drums. They play metal and hard rock that emanates a punk sound, hiding great, technical guitar work behind a thick, punk-esque crunch effect. Their music is a nice blend of speed and the occasional shade of soul. Snakefeast is a bass, drums, and vocals trio, occasionally accompanied by saxophone. The band consists of Dave Cavalier on drums, Carson Korman on bass, and the vocals of Phil Doccolo. They play a unique brand of progressive sludge metal that beautifully mixes jazzy riffs with sludge-like licks.
"Reflectors", the first track off of the Queen Wolf half of the album, sounds like a typical punk song when you first listen to it. Pretty normal riff, speedily played, thick crunch, etc., but after a few listens through, you start to notice very technical guitar work throughout the entirety of the song. Along with the double bass you begin to pick up on in the drum work, you can already tell there's more to this band than there first appears to be. This reigns true in the next track, "Inside The Wolf", a punk/thrash metal hybrid, not just in sound, but in the instrumentation. The mixture of speedy, heavy riffage, solo guitar, and punk-like drum work makes this song a true testament to the different sound this band can achieve. Speaking of different, remember that thing I said about shade of soul? Well, that's "Riding". This track is an easygoing, bluesy masterpiece. The guitar (both rhythm and lead) and vocal work stand out especially in this track, really adding to the feel of skillfully played blues that is so hard to attain. This song is definitely a well executed change of pace for the album. "Lil Cuts" has more of a hard rock feel to it, but the song is progressive throughout, and contains some of my favorite riffs off the album. The fifth track, "Queen Wolf", is a bit all over the place, but is a catchy tune nonetheless, and gives a nice end to the Queen Wolf half of the album.
Snakefeast gets right to the point. Their first track, "Damiens", starts out almost immediately with heavy bass and high shrieks/low grows. This makes for an interesting transition from the speed and clean vocals found on the Queen Wolf half. The first part of the song is carried almost entirely by the drums, while the bass and saxophone set an eerie mood, switching from drawn out notes to bass grooves and sax solo work. It's fairly slow and calm, but it keeps you listening as the bass progresses through different riffs. The song then switches to a bass solo, picking up pace a bit, but ends back on a familiar, slower note. "Cave", the second song off the album, starts out with a fantastic, groovy bass lick, followed by equally great drum and vocal work, all of which progress throughout the song. The pace of the song falls halfway through, but maintains its groove factor, and picks up again at the end with the original lick. "Frontier" is an even faster track that seems to repeatedly build up speed, then let it out in a beautiful, heavy bass/drum combo that will undoubtedly make you bang your head. After dropping pace a bit, the song progresses into a groove masterpiece, followed once more by the intro riff. The album seems to just get better and better as it goes, and the fourth track, "Wither", is no exception. This track seems to have the most technical bass and drum work, which fuses well with the slow, jazzy intro and outro. "Being", the final track off of the album, is a beautiful mixture of skillful instrumental work and off-time time signatures. In the last minutes of the song, the bass, drums, and vocals compliment each other in a way unmatched by any other part of this album, ending it with a bang.
Queen Wolf gives you your dose of fast, hard hitting metal/rock. Their half of the album can appeal to almost any metal fan. It's rare to find thrash elements combined so well with the elements modern alternative metal, and even more rare to hear it all sound good with a punk sound. Snakefeast lays out groove after groove, whether it's slow, sludgy plodding, or groovy, progressive riffs. This combination compliments each other in a way, giving you the best of two very different sides. While some parts may take a few listens to really warm up to, both halves of this album are a great listen, masterfully put together, and diverse in a way that you rarely see today. I definitely recommend checking it out. You can pre-order Queen Wolf/Snakefeast here.
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