Those with a knowledge of the underground rock scene will immediately recognise the names Kayt Vigil and Gianni "Vita" Vitarelli, but for those not so clued up let us tell you that Vigil once supplied bass for doom legends Pentagram and Vita was up until a few years ago the drummer driving the groove behind psych/sludge/doom meisters Ufomammut. In 2015 Vigil and Vita, a married couple, decided they wanted to do something together and so Sonic Wolves was born. Paulo Melotto and the singularly named Diniz were recruited in on guitar duties for the bands first album "Before The End Comes" (2016) then Melotto departed leaving the band as a trio for the follow up "Sonic Wolves" (2018), both albums were well received garnering plaudits and good reviews from all the right quarters. Unfortunately any thoughts the band might have had about following up on this positivity came to an abrupt halt when Covid hit their Italian homeland with the force of a hurricane which is part, but not all, reason why we have had to wait until 2024 for the next instalment of the Sonic Wolves story. That story now continues with the release of "III" (Argonauta Records), this time featuring Nico Nigro on guitar duties, an album that has been a long time coming and delivers on every level.
There is no slow gentle easing in with opening track "Shapeshifter" this is a song that goes for the throat right from the off, raucous guitar tones, furious drumming and growling bass framing an almost snarled punkish Vigil vocal around which Nigro coils scorching solos that are a mix of bluesy old school feel and modern day shred, breath-taking! That raucous old school/new school feel is combined with a more cosmic dynamic on next track "O.B.E." an exhilarating instrumental that pins you against the wall with its crunching ferocity one minute then wraps you up in a blanket of cosmicness the next. Its pedal to the metal for the stoner(ish) "Dead To The World" next with Vita laying down a barrage of beats beneath booming bouncy bass lines, searing lead work and catchy vocal melodies. Our ears may be deceiving us at Desert Psychlist but we are sure we can hear a hint of an AC/DC turnaround nestled away on the meaty rocker "Dark Recollection", and if there is you won't find us complaining, nor other listeners we should imagine. It is conceivable we may be wrong about hearing an essence of AC/DC in the previous track but we are not wrong in hearing shades of Deep Purple in the first quarter of its follow up "Heavy Lies The Crown", especially in Nigro's earworm guitar riff which has Ritchie Blackmore written large all over it, that said the songs second half is a completely different animal in that it is a truly beautiful spacious jam with strong Floydian undertones. Sonic Wolves return to stoner/hard rock dynamics for "The Ten Doors" while "Won't Be Their Fool" finds the band twinning those same dynamics with a little punkish attitude and garage rock aggression beneath a strong angsty vocal. Finally we arrive at "Gotta Do It Right" an up tempo rocker that comes over like a cross between Deep Purple's "Highway Star" and The Damned's "New Rose" and sounds as impressive as both, an ass kicking song that, like the album it closes, demands repeated plays.
Sonic Wolves "III" is an outstanding release that ticks all the boxes any discerning rock music fan could ever want ticking, it's aggressive in places soothing and spacious in others, it is an album that will appeal to those brought up on the classic and hard rock of the 70's, those who cut their teeth on 80's metal and those with an investment in the stoner rock, psych and doom that has graced record collections from the 90's to the present day, to misquote Rudyard Kipling "The strength of the groove is the Sonic Wolves, the strength of the Sonic Wolves is the groove"
Check 'em out .....
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