ALBUM REVIEW: STORMWOLF Bring the Metal With “Voyager”

Stormwolf bring heavy metal from Italy with their mammoth album “Voyager” released late 2024 split into two CDs via Nadir Music. Having recieved a review copy, it was put duly into the machine and switched on to 11 to see if it could blow away any cobwebs. Spoiler – it ended up blew away the cobwebs, spiders, dust and nearly the roof.

The first track is “Lepanto, 7th October 1571” and it immediately drags you along on a voyage of New Wave of Heavy Metal with riff, groove, beat and incredible vocals that just blast unexpectedly out of the speakers. It constantly twists and turns tempo like a classic Maiden track crossed with a modern polish. It is an instant headbanging classic, from verse to chorus. What a track to kick off on.

“Fast Lane” feels like heavy metal hard rock with a bit of Judas Priest thrown in for good measure while “Dark Shadows” brings home the feel of old school prog rock with a metal weight while the vocals swoop and soar throughout. Both perfect tracks of superb anthemic production. “Fury” is fast, heavy and unrelentingly thunderous through controlled aggression while Elena’s vocals brings her angelic tones to blend perfectly alongside.  “Horizons” suddenly pulls you to a slower more ponderously emotional tempo as it overflows with a soulful melancholy.

“Fate” slams the pedal to the metal once more and slams home with almost a power metal tune up tuned with a little thrash. It possibly shouldn’t work but it blends beautifully. “Fade Into You” is another thunderous raucous tune that just powers through all the while you are headbanging round the house, with Elena’s entrancing voice spiralling and lilting throughout while the solos are just superb. Its an incredible mix of 80s metal music with 80s pop vocals. The last song on CD one is “Some Other Place, Some Other Time” and just superbly projects Iron Maiden crossed with Accept while Alena’s vocals wispily float along with operatic finesse.

CD two has six tracks but have a small twist in that they are all covers. The first “Crazy Nights“, originally by Loudness, and truly Loundess by name, Loudness by nature, all delivered with perfection. It grooves and thunders with perfect headbanging rhythm. “The Butcher And Fast Eddy” is a wonderful Rose Tattoo surprise. Now some of the more hard rock bluesish tones on CD one make sense. It just ‘Rides on‘ but with that heavy tone to become an absolutely fantastic almost mashup of genres. The twist is that this swings between the vocals of Alena and Davide that works well.

“Two Minutes To Midnight“, from the mighty Iron Maiden, now gets the Stormwolf treatment. And it does not disappoint Pure headbanging heaven vocally delivered in such a wonderful way by Elena, who can handle the operatic nature of the song.  “Princess Of The Dawn“, from the legendary Accept, is just an undiluted track of slamming joy. Metal all the way. “I Won’t Dance (The Elder’s Orient)”, from Celtic Frost, is delivered with ecstatic fast fury as both Elena and Davide join again to share the load, as Elena channels a bit of Doro. The final track is “Army Of Poseidon“, an Anguish Force cover, and is a perfect way to finish off a wonderful tribute that is CD Two. Fast, furious, unrelenting, it is a joy to listen to.

HAPPY METAL GEEK SAYS…

“Voyager” is a well-executed album that highlighting Stormwolf’s heavy powerful style of metal. Each track on CD one is original but with that warm familiarity as you can feel the odd tremor of what might have influenced them.  The album has a style of an operatic symphony while digging deep into that powerful 80s heavy metal. The album is polished, well produced and does not need to grow on you, it latches on and won’t let go.

Stormwolf deliver an album incorporating styles and sounds that all scream NWOBHM, European heavy metal, power metal, all with a foundation that feels fresh and new but comfortingly familiar. Each track is a powerful anthem with a cavernous atmosphere just screaming to be sung in front of a huge audience, all moving in time. It could become an energy source to power a city. This is a versatile album with high-energy thundering anthemic tunes that shake the walls alongside the odd needed melancholic reflective song.

While Powerwolf are clearly a band with their own undeniable identity, their sound and style is perfect for any fan of Blind Guardian, Helloween, Iron Maiden and Accept. With “Voyager“, Powerwolf prove they are an exciting, dynamic and ambitious band, and rightly so. This is a truly monumental album that shows off the band’s talents to deliver heavy power metal with experimental ease. Simply, what an album. It is an absolute must for any metalhead.

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STORMWOLF was formed in 2014 by guitarist and composer Francesco Natale and renowned Jazz/Pop singer Elena Ventura. Their clear and defined intent was to blend the typical sounds and “riffing” of 80s Heavy Metal with a vocal approach far from the genre’s norms, balancing power, speed, and melody in a formula as personal and original as possible, without denying their roots.

Their influences range from NWOBHM (Saxon, Iron Maiden) to Teutonic metal (Accept, Running Wild), passing through the sacred monsters of American metal (Van Halen, Dokken, Crimson Glory).

With the lineup completed by Marco Castellaro on bass and Giacomo Stiaccini on drums, they released the self-produced demo “Swordwind” in 2015, containing four original tracks and three covers. Given the excellent critical response to “Swordwind,” the band decided to dedicate themselves to live activities in addition to studio projects. With the recruitment of Davide Passarelli on the second, indispensable guitar, STORMWOLF began an intense live activity, both in the Genoa area and northern Italy, opening for internationally renowned bands such as Necrodeath, Mastercastle, and Lacuna Coil.

At the end of 2017, Marco Castellaro and Giacomo Stiaccini left the band, and Francesco Gaetani on bass and Tiziana Cotella on drums joined. With this renewed lineup, STORMWOLF focused on recording their first official album, “Howling Wrath,” which was released on March 18, 2018, under the aegis of Red Cat Records for Italy and 7Hard for the rest of Europe, receiving excellent critical and commercial responses.

In 2019, Francesco Gaetani left the band and was replaced by Davide Scatassi, first as a session musician and then as a full member. At the end of the same year, Elena Ventura also left STORMWOLF to dedicate herself entirely to her jazz ensemble and solo career. During the so-called “pandemic” years, despite significant logistical problems, STORMWOLF began working on composing and arranging new material, waiting to find the right voice to record the successor to “Howling Wrath.”

After months of considering numerous collaboration hypotheses without positive results, a fortuitous encounter with renowned Folk/Blues interpreter Irene Manca led to a fruitful project collaboration for the recording of “Voyager,” which will be released on September 20, 2024, by Nadir Music.

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