Review | Sign Of The Wolf – Sign Of The Wolf

Escape Music

UK-label Escape Music, owned by Khalil Turk does not really overflow the market with products. Most of their bands and releases are carefully chosen and prepared. ‘Sign Of The Wolf’ is such a project, with Bruce Mee as executive producer and main songwriter. Khalil Turk produced the record while the mixing and mastering was in the capable hands of Fredrik Folklare, who also contributed bass and rhythm guitar parts. Plus he co-wrote eight of the nine compositions on this record with Bruce Mee.

INTENTION

The intention of this band/project was to bring back the sound of classic rock as it was displayed by bands such as Rainbow, Black Sabbath, Dio etcetera. The fact that Bruce Mee and Fredrik Folklare wrote the bulk of the songs has provided a certain standard of quality. Former Heartland and current Lone Rider-guitarist Steve Morris co-wrote with Mee the track ,,Rage Of Angels’’ that was released as a single. Especially the keyboard-intro by former Rainbow keyboardist Tony Carey revives the time of the Rainbow days with Ronnie James Dio singing. A really cool song.

THE MUSICIANS

The list of musicians is impressive. On lead-vocals we have Andrew Freeman of Last In Line. He turns out to be the right man at the right spot. This type of material is for one hundred percent suited for his powerful and melodic pipes. On the guitars we find the already mentioned Folklare and Morris, but the main axeman is Doug Aldrich (ex-Dio, now The Dead Daisies). Doug is absolutely on fire on this record, playing like a madman possessed.

On bass we have Chuck Wright and Mark Boals (who would have also been a good choice as lead-singer) and on drums Vinny Appice, UK-basher Josh Devine, and Swedish master Johan Kullberg. On keyboards we already mentioned Tony Carey, but also virtuoso Mark Mangold (Touch, Drive She Said, House Of Lords) and Steve Mann (Michael Schenker and Lionheart) have put their efforts in. How can you go wrong with such seasoned musicians on board?

SIGN OF THE WOLF – THE CONCLUSION

With a well-balanced selection of good and hard rocking songs this album is a joy to hear from beginning to end. Several tracks really stand out, such as ,,Arbeit Macht Frei’’, by far the fastest track on this record. The lyrics speak for themselves. It is a strong stand against Nazi Germany, their concentration camps, and their persecution of people. It is just too bad that several world leaders have not learned anything from the past as today’s world still is full of conflict and many innocent people are victimized, terrorized and killed. Also ,,Bouncing Betty’’ has a bit of a ‘war’ connection as it handles about a tough woman during the war in Vietnam.

Still, it is absolutely not a record that is handling just politics and/or war. On the contrary, ‘Sign Of The Wolf’ is a record that really does drag you back to the classic rock sound of the eighties. Excellent musicianship, good and catchy yet hard rocking songs (,,Silent Killer’’, ,,Rainbow’s End’’, the epic ,,Rage Of Angels’’ and the impressive title-track ,,Sign Of The Wolf’’) and a majestic sound. This album has all the ingredients you want to hear on a classic rock record. The whole album is already plastered on YouTube for you to check out but Escape has also released it on vinyl and CD. Make sure you hear this one in any kind of shape or form!