OneMetal.com music REVIEW:
Wolvhammer – Black Marketeers of World War III

Black Marketeers of World War III is the first full length album from American underground black metal terrorists Wolvhammer, and it’s a grisly little number full of a strangely joyous misanthropy. Wolvhammer start from the later-era Darkthrone template – a defiantly underground sound, in which simplistic buzzsaw riffs and chaotic drumming mingle into a very ugly whole, topped off with harsh, screeching vocals. Wolvhammer have managed to create a record which is both extremely grim, and also really good fun.

There’s a definite punk element to the sound of this album – a real sense of energy that makes it sound much fresher than it strictly speaking deserves to. It’s not a crossover album though – this is definitely raw, primitive black metal through and through, but there’s a swagger and sense of playfulness to the music that doesn’t very often come out in a scene that’s often painfully straight-faced. Although the subject matter is extremely nihilistic, there’s a definite sense of the ridiculous at work. I get the impression that Wolvhammer are revelling in their bleakness rather than suffering from it, and the whole album is suffused with this sense that evil doesn’t have to mean miserable.

Although Wolvhammer are content to plough a straighforward furrow for much of the record, they manage to inject enough variety into the songs to keep things from stagnating. Opener ‘Cold Ghosts’ is very much a black metal track in the most classic sense, with the emphasis on chilling atmospherics, but later tracks such as ‘Snaketongues’ have an anthemic, almost stadium-like feel to them. The last couple of tracks on the album are much longer, more meandering affairs, which reference the more introverted and less accessible ends of the genre. Everything lilts along with the kind of easy groove that some bands such as Motorhead and Darkthrone achieve with ease whilst others never manage to attain, and it’s this infectious rhythmic swing that stops attention from wandering when listening to this record. Good drumming does not always mean precision.

Wolvhammer have also been good enough to put their early demos up for free on the internet, which means that there’s absolutely no reason not to check out their work for yourself. Although they’re unlikely to win many awards for originality, they’ve got energy to burn, plenty of charisma and enough metal swagger that it doesn’t really matter. If you like primitive black metal and you’re not frightened by the possibility of having actual fun listening to a record, then Wolvhammer have released a minor classic.

Wolvhammer’s MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/wolvhammer
Init Records’ Website: http://www.initrecords.com

Bottom Line

Like really good sex, Black Marketeers of World War III manages to be both deeply horrible and great fun at the same time.