Review: Wolverine – Anomalies
Music Theories Recordings (February 6th, 2026)
Reviewer – David Brighouse
Original Swedish Progressive Metallers Wolverine have evolved over the last 30 years into one of the finest exponents of Scandinavian Prog Metal and ‘Anomalies‘ is their first album for 10 years.
Similar to their compatriots Katatonia they produce dark thoughtful records full of emotion but not lacking melody and elements of hope and light. First song ‘A Sudden Demise‘ perfectly reflects this with melodic vocals underpinned by swirling keyboards and counterpoints of cutting guitar. ‘My Solitary Foe‘ is another song that builds on the bands strength of creating a solid sonic landscape over which the vocals can tell their story of the daily tribulations of life. ‘Circuits‘ is a lighter track which starts with an almost dance beat which carries on through the song, with haunting Saxophone cutting in and out before suddenly ending. ‘Nightfall‘ handles some dark themes and comes from a period of singer Stefan Zell’s life when he went to bed every night worrying that he might not wake in the morning, but is also one of the more catchy songs on the album.
‘This World And All Its Dazzling Nights‘ is a beautifully constructed song which rises and falls taking you a real emotional sonic journey. ‘Automaton‘ is piano led and melancholic, with keyboards adding texture to what one could call the ballad on the album and is beautiful in its simplicity. ‘A Perfect Alignment‘ was the first single from the album and is the first part of a trilogy of songs that originated from a planned concept album that never came to be, the others being ‘Circuits’ and ‘A Sudden Demise’, and is a song that builds piece by piece into a wonderous whole.
‘Losing Game‘ is not a song the band would have written in their early days, it’s a song based on experience and how our viewpoint changes as we get older. Final track ‘Scarlet Tide‘ is the longest song on the album and builds slowly with keyboards, guitar and a wonderfully emotive vocal until the rest of the band join in, you get a wonderful guitar solo, before at all falls away again to just a piano and keyboards to finish.
This is a great Prog Metal album and features not only superb music, but with the right approach will give the listener plenty to think about, or you can just let it wash over and envelop you; the choice is yours. Let’s just hope they don’t leave it so long to the next one.
Tracklisting:
- A Sudden Demise
- My Solitary Foe
- Circuits
- Nightfall
- This World and All Its Dazzling Lights
- Automaton
- A Perfect Alignment
- Losing Game
- Scarlet Tide
Line-up:
Stefan Zell (Vocals)
Thomas Jansson (Bass)
Jonas Jonsson (Guitar)
Per Henriksson (Keyboards)
Marcus Losbjer (Drums)