Tag Archives: Joy Division

Warlockhunt – Prey Album Review

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Warlockhunt – Prey 

Pyrrhic Defeat Records 

Release date: 14/11/2025 

Running time: 

Review by: Alun Jones 

9/10 

Autumn in the UK seems like the ideal time of year for a new release from Warlockhunt.  The days are getting shorter and cooler, the leaves turning to orange and yellow and falling to the ground.  The veil between this world and the next is at its thinnest, and the dark melancholy of nature can be best observed. 

Warlockhunt is a three-piece band, consisting of Chris on drums, and two bass players: Mark and Lorraine (who also handles vocals).  This choice of instrumentation allows Warlockhunt to exist as something very different from the rest of the Doom Metal crowd.  The absence of crunching guitar allows the music to explore a more atmospheric, though no less heavy, landscape.   

The album begins with a lengthy intro of synthesised bass, which thaws out the beginning of ‘Turn Away’.  Slowly, a pulsing bass emerges, punctuated with stark, precise drumming.   The dreamlike female vocals blossom and float alongside the melody, rather than dominating it.  ‘Diary of Hate’ has a more direct but no less minimal approach, with a simple bass sound and thumping percussion creating a hypnotic ground for the vocals, till the pace increases for a frenzied finale.          

‘Mourn’ has an almost folky, medieval character, still prevalent when the drums crash in with a marching rhythm.  The tribal drumbeats have a Post Punk crispness that are as much a feature as that moody bass – see ‘Fake’ as a prime example.  On the title track, those drums reach Killing Joke-like intensity, leading the dark revelry as much as underpinning it.  And over all of that are the vocals, both sombre and enchanting.   

Warlockhunt have been called Doom Pop in the past (most notably by me, haha!) and the description still stands.  This is less the onslaught of Cathedral or Trouble, and more like Joy Division creating a soundtrack for a folk horror movie – with Nancy Sinatra singing.  “Prey” is an exercise in climate, in ambience – though still heavy with the air of dark melancholy.  Watch the sun go down and enjoy the darkness.  

Check out Warlockhunt on Facebook and Bandcamp.

This review is brought to you by Platinum Al in association with Ever Metal.

Wino – Forever Gone Album Review

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WINO – Forever Gone

Ripple Music (Purple Sage PR)

Release date: 26/06/2020

Running time: 46 mins

Review by: Alun Jones

8/10

Who remembers that old TV programme, The Fall Guy?  You know, the one where the Six Million Dollar Man becomes a stuntman/bounty hunter, getting into all kinds of daredevil scrapes whilst pursuing the bad guys?  At the end of every episode, old Lee Majors (for it was he) would be seen chilling in his backyard hot tub, mulling over events whilst drinking a cold beer and smoking a big, fat cigar.

Well let it be known that I, too, like to relax in the tub with a beer after a long, hard day of whatever-the-fuck-it-is-I-do.  None of your business, really.  Just take it from me, I need to unwind in a mass of bubble bath, with candles and refreshment.  And of course, some music, just to add to the ambience.

This might not sound very metal to you, but let me tell ya: this new album from doom metal originator Scott “Wino” Weinrich would make ideal tunes for chilling in the tub.  Or pondering lost loves and fortunes in a dusty bar.  Or sound tracking a lonely drive across the desert, escaping an inevitable encounter.  But to be honest, I like the bathtub metaphor best, ‘cos I’ve not used it before.

“Forever Gone” is stripped down and intimate; the title song itself is just Wino the man, plus acoustic guitar.  Beautifully melancholic, the listener can really get lost in this.  “Taken” also ploughs a lonesome path, with Wino’s voice revealing a soulfulness that I’d never appreciated before.  

For any fans of The Obsessed or Saint Vitus who were hoping for something louder and more aggressive, there’s not too much of a leap from familiar ground really.  Other than the sonics, the emotions of loss and despair are what unifies Wino’s other output to this endeavour.  “Dark Ravine” brings a more Americana style to the proceedings, but it’s all still intense as hell, whether the guitars are turned right up or not.    

It’s not all gloom, though: “You’re So Fine” introduces a laid back, country blues number that sounds almost boogie-ish.  Throw in a great cover of Joy Division’s “Isolation” and this is an album that’s certainly full of surprises.

Great music can create images in your head for your own movie; “Forever Gone” is one of those.  Melodic yet mournful, intense and introspective, there are dozens of stories to be told within the grooves of this record. 

Check out Wino on Facebook, Twitter and Bandcamp.

Visit the Ripple music website here, or check ’em out on Facebook or Bandcamp.

And make sure you visit Ever Metal for more reviews of awesome music!

Dead Wolf Club and Saltwater Injection Gig Review

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Dead Wolf Club + Saltwater Injection

Thursday 26th February 2015

The Compass, Chester

Back to the Compass in Chester for some more rock’n’roll!  I was able to catch local band Saltwater Injection again, plus new discovery Dead Wolf Club.

Saltwater Injection makes a reliably noisy racket with just a bass guitar and a drum kit.  The bass stirs a sludgy broth of Melvins style aggressive punk, while the drums thrash away relentlessly.  It’s not all noise – beneath the cacophony, the audience can define melodies as well as crushing riffs. Catchy, sing along melodies, even!

The set gives us original songs in this vein, plus a Beatles tribute infused with a punk Monty Python spirit.  Add in a song written on the spot, following a title suggestion from the audience; and genuinely funny, self deprecating stage banter and you’ve got a concoction that is quite infectious.  Great band and one to catch!

Up next are head liners Dead Wolf Club, a four piece with a similar punk rock approach but different delivery.  This band offers an intense, swirling sound that develops from a Joy Formidable accessibility to a crushing Joy Division cinematic scope.

It’s post hardcore performed with an admirable earnestness and honesty.  Dead Wolf Club’s songs – part Steve Albini, part Fugazi, part grungey indie – build and build, showing a sense of scale and ambition.  Unfortunately it’s over too soon, and everything suddenly seems far too quiet…

Another blinding night at the Compass, which has grown into an intimate venue for in-your-face rock music.  Good beer, friendly staff and a fantastic AC/DC pinball machine don’t hurt either!

The Compass website is here.

The Saltwater Injection website is here.

The Dead Wolf Club website is here.

Saltwater Injection
Dead Wolf Club