ALPHA WOLF SET TO RELEASE SOPHOMORE ALBUM, A SEAMLESS EFFORT FULL OF AGGRESSION AND EMOTION

Australian metalcore band Alpha Wolf are set to release their sophomore album, a quiet place to die, on September 25, 2020 via Sharptone Records.

Starting off with the title track, the heavy guitar riff gets louder with every second that passes, giving an introduction to the album laid out before the listener. The song is literal to the fullest extent. When one wants to die, in any sense, they want to go out quietly and this band perceives that all in this first song.

The beginning of “Rot In Pieces” leaves the listener wondering what could be the context of the song while Lochie Keogh, lead vocalist, delivers emotionally heavy lyrics. The first line, “I am cancer, I am blame,” astounded and drew me in. The overall lyrical content was about telling a toxic person in one’s life to leave after affecting them as bad as they did. Throughout the song, the lyrics become more confrontational, telling the toxic person to die and rot in pieces. The instrumental composition mimics the lyrical content by becoming aggressive as the song progresses. The instrumentation coupled with the heavy vocals and emotional lyrics made this song a compelling piece of work.

The song title “don’t ask…” left questions to be answered, but within the first minute and 30 seconds, Keogh provided a response. Mental illness is something a lot of people deal with, and this composition is the soundtrack to what goes through someone’s head who suffers greatly from it. Those who endure the everyday war don’t want their loved ones to worry about them; first and foremost, they feel the battle is theirs to fight alone. “don’t ask…” is the song I felt the most connected to. Out of the eleven songs on the album, this one stood out amongst the rest. As someone who understands and deals with the torment of certain mental illnesses, I empathized with the lyrics because I too feel as if I need to fight this war alone. There are ups and downs to every illness and the simple phrase “don’t ask” holds a lot of meaning.

A quiet place to die flows from one song to the next seamlessly, leaving listeners with an artistic masterpiece. With this album having a theme, it seems as though all the songs on the track list lead up to the first song. They all delve into heavy topics that ultimately lead to one wanting to find a quiet place to die and the last song on the album would be the last straw, asking someone how they are coping with their illness.

A quiet place to die is for anyone who enjoys head banging their heart out to heavy orchestration and content, seeking a cathartic experience while feeling all the emotions Alpha Wolf are portraying throughout the album.