Wolfbrigade – Life Knife Death

The Swedish lycanthro-punks return in top form with a crushing hardcore/crust abomination.

wolfbrigade-life-knife-death Artist: Wolfbrigade

Title: Life Knife Death 

Release: LP / Digital

Year: 2024

Label: Metal Blade Records

As we witnessed during Wolfbrigade’s first-ever concert in Athens last spring, the timelessly beloved hardcore/crust they perform remains indelible, unyielding, and ferocious. Their transitional EP from two years ago, Anti-Tank Dogs, showed the band in an unexpectedly violent form after the solid but slightly predictable The Enemy: Reality, released six years ago. Now signed to Metal Blade, expectations for a hellish comeback had been raised.

Their eleventh album, Life Knife Death, which pays tribute on its cover to Celtic Frost’s Morbid Tales, delivers exactly what was promised. Following their highly influential presence in the broader hardcore crust scene, not just in Sweden, and their ’90s legacy as Wolfpack with legendary albums like In Darkness You Feel No Regrets (the track “Unruled And Unnamed” on the new album might be seen as a nod to that era), Wolfbrigade has built a career that, despite certain shifts—especially toward a more metal audience—commands universal respect.

Still, with favorite artists, one must remain truly critical. The politically charged yet consistently misanthropic return to roots in Life Knife Death warrants close examination. Two-minute bursts like “Your God Is A Corpse,” or the frenzied “Disarm Or Be Destroyed”—whose guitar work instantly lands it among the band’s greatest moments—demonstrate that the twelve new tracks offer not only the band’s hard-earned experience but also the explosive immediacy of eternal crust revolutionary youth.

Thanks to the directness with which Wolfbrigade tackled the material, the album encompasses every facet of their identity. The title track recalls their more recent era of wide appeal, while “A Day In The Life Of An Arse,” an indirect homage to The Beatles, reminds us why, twenty years ago, these Swedish lycanthro-punks led a genre. Meanwhile, “Mayhem Mongrel” could easily be a Wolfpack track, especially with its mid-song transitions that evoke late-’90s Entombed vibes from miles away. In “Skinchanger,” the band explores a rhythmic hardcore punk that harkens back to their roots, punctuated by metallic breaks bound to become live staples, bringing to mind Dismember. Meanwhile, the Motörhead-style energy of “Your God Is A Corpse” underlines how, with a good lead atop a d-beat, anything is possible.

By surrendering to their primal instincts, Wolfbrigade let inspiration guide them. Though they remain confined to a well-defined subgenre—particularly their own variation of it—they still manage to sound regal at their finest. Swedish crust punk admittedly operates under strict boundaries, but Wolfbrigade has long declared war on such limitations.

Life Knife Death begins as a return to roots, darkness, and influences, fueled by the planet’s harrowing last five years. It confirms that these Swedes have been on fire for some time now. If you love this sound, you’ll be hooked. If not, this might be your chance to dive in.

A Greek version of this review was published on Rocking.gr.

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