2 Wolves – Men of Honour (2012)

With a very melancholic sound, today we have Finland’s 2 Wolves and their sophomore release “Men of Honour”. In this nine-track album, the band greatly reminds us of a mixtures between Eternal Tears of Sorrow, On Thorns I Lay, and Poema Arcanus. 2 Wolves sound is very unique in the sense that they use lush keyboards, heavy riffing, and a mixture of growls and clean vocals to perfection in this very exciting release.

The opener “Bygones” has the signatures Eternal Tears of Sorrow mixture of growls, powerful riffs and very proficient keyboards mixed with a super catchy clean chorus section. This track greatly sets the mood for an excellent release, and the atmosphere of “Unreal Conversations” immediately enhances it. The lush melodic sections contrasted by the crushing riffs and harsh vocals work wonders in this very engaging track.

“Warm Touch of Forthcoming Tragedy” is our favorite track of this release thanks to the very Doom-like atmosphere and the brilliant clean vocal Gothic passages, greatly reminding us of Chile’s Poema Arcanus charismatic singer. “Stars” again delivers very catchy clean atmospheric sections that really give an ethereal vibe to this album, and a very effective Gothic element to this release.

“The Path of Misery” is an example of how the band can get heavier and dirtier if they want. This song also changes the dynamics of the release for just a bit before going back to lush and melodic songs like “Same Different Burden” and the Atmospheric Doom of “The Battle of Two Wolves”, reminding us of Saturnus at times. The closer “Enemy Inside” nicely combines both aggressive and melodic sections to bring this excellent release to a very deserving close.

As one of the most diverse releases in the genres of Melodic/Atmospheric Doom Metal with some Gothic Rock elements, “Men of Honour” will surely make it to our top 10 of the year with great quality music. If you like Eternal Tears of Sorrow, On Thorns I Lay, and similar bands, 2 Wolves is one band you don’t want to miss out on.

Release: November 16th, 2012

Genre: Melodic/Atmospheric Doom Metal

Country: Finland