An Ordinary Person

Album Review: Villains by Wolfgang

This is my first music album review. I have reviewed books but have never reviewed a music album before. Much less an album by one of my favorite bands whose members may or may not read this blog (but I know some of their fans do).

Sure, I’ve shot the breeze with friends on what I think are Wolfgang’s best albums and songs but I’ve never attempted a full-on, written album review. I guess what I am trying to say is that I may not entirely know what I am doing yet in reviewing music. I can only talk about what I liked and what I didn’t like. So if you’re gonna comment be kind!

That said I’d like to start with the bottom line: I really liked Wolfgang’s Villains album. But did I consider it their best work over their other albums? I would have to be honest that it will probably take repeated listenings before I fully get Villains. It did not have the same immediate, visceral impact on me that I got from some of their other great albums like Acoustica, Semenelin, and Black Mantra (yes I am one of the few who will admit that I really liked Black Mantra!). I liked Villains the same way I liked the Volume compilation – as a solid collection of Wolfgang songs with a few standout tracks.

Basti’s vocals are still very strong even through years of fronting heavy rock bands. I have followed his career from Wolfgang to Kitaan to Lokomotiv and now back again to the Villains album and Basti never fails to deliver in strong vocals. The distinctive Wolfgang mix of metal, grunge, piercing guitar solos and thought-provoking lyrics are all in this album. Drum parts were great — Francis Aquino more than adequately fills Wolf Gemora’s shoes. Rythm guitars were generally not as loud as other Wolfgang albums. Lead guitars are present but not as extensively used as their other albums. However, I really liked the fact that you can really hear the bass in this album and Mon Legaspi’s playing is great.

Here’s my take on the album song by song:

RP Deathsquad: rocking song. One of the harder songs in the album. Riff-heavy and great harmonies in the chorus. Great shredding guitar solo by Manuel Legarda.

Ibrahim: very heavy-sounding song. Reminiscent of Black Mantra. Bass lines are very audible along with crunchy guitar. It is good to hear the bass so prominent in the mix rather than buried in the guitar distortion and drums

NME: another song reminiscent of Black Mantra with its loud, crunchy rhythm guitars and heavy bass. Great vocal harmonies and melodic break in the middle. You read that right — Wolfgang employs vocal harmonies to great effect for several songs in this album!

Soap: melodic rock song reminiscent of Serve in Silence or Semenelin. Guitars not as heavy or pronounced in this song. Great vocal harmonies and melodic chorus. Great guitar solo that is reminiscent of older Wolfgang albums.

John’s Intro: mellow guitar with sound effects in the background

John of the Cross: Heavy rock song reminiscent of classic Wolfgang pre-Black Mantra (to me anyway). Weird lyrics because “John of the Cross” translates to Juan de la Cruz in Tagalog and I read somewhere that this is a double meaning that was intended. But the lyrics are about killing and murder — I am sure Basti doesn’t mean all Filipinos are killers or murderers? If someone has better insight on these lyrics and the double-meaning please feel free to comment and explain.

Kung Gusto Mo Pa: A Tagalog song which would not be out of place in Wurm or Serve in Silence — or Acoustica for that matter. Mellow vibe, vocal harmonies and acoustic guitar. Bass line is very prominent and a pleasure to hear. Guitars are intricate and switches effortlessly from rhythm strumming to melody lines. Drums are kick-ass.

Diaspora Mama: Another song that starts out mellow and is reminiscent of Serve in Silence or Worm. Gets heavy in the chorus. This started out as my favorite track because of the somewhat personal lyrics and guitar parts. But near ¾ towards the end of the song, it got into the “aah-aaah” parts which I didn’t like too much.

The Shaft: has a strong groove to it. Very prominent bass line. Heavy song that reminds me of the collection of songs in the Volume album. Melodic break with bass and guitar interweaving in the middle.

Novus is Burning. The heaviest song in the album. Very reminiscent of the Black Mantra album. Lyrics are shouted to great effect here. Heavy distorted guitars and hard-driving drums and bass.

Ladies and Gentlemen: mellow song. Almost like a ballad with melodic guitars and vocal harmonies. Reminiscent of early Wolfgang mellow songs and would not be out of place in the Acoustica album.

So there you go — my very first album review. I liked the Villains album a lot but I didn’t quite find it as strong as some of their earlier work (isn’t that a common refrain in music criticism?) I know Wolfgang fans can be very devoted and anything less than a stellar review might earn someone’s wrath. But so what if Wolfgang did not create their best album with this one? Villains is a perfectly solid effort. The band, after all, has been on hiatus for the past six years. I still plan on putting Villains in regular rotation for listening in my ipod.

One final note: since I am located in the US, I did not have ready access to Manila record bars or their gigs to buy the album. I downloaded it from CD Baby and it was a pretty user-friendly and straightforward process to do so. Downloads cost $9.99 each and can be paid for by credit card or Paypal (they also take checks it seems from the instructions). The download included high-quality audio files of the songs, the cover graphic, and some liner notes. One small quibble — I would have liked a file of the lyrics or a graphic of the hard copy CD liner notes. But all in all I was satisfied with my purchase and have no major complaints.

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