When I first saw the cover art for "Rouge" by BE THE WOLF I smiled to myself. A fearsome black wolf's head greeted me. Its mouth open, possibly lunging in for the kill. The black art with red backdrop led me to believe I was in for something intense. Unfortunately this is as far from intensity as you can get. Apparently, being the wolf involves listening to soft rock. I can appreciate more Rock-ish music, I'm a huge BARONESS fan. Clean vocals don't scare me as I dig Doom metal. ACID BATH and NEUROSIS both are prime examples that amazing things can be done with clean vocals. It's not just one element of something that it should be defined by. In the case of "Rouge" it's everything working together to make this about as unappealing as possible to a metal head. This is top 40-style Pop-Rock. There's nothing here that's heavy or brutal. The lead singer does a whole lot of singing with high pitched vocals, not the IRON MAIDEN style heavy yelling, just kind of normal radio music singing. The drums and melodies are all very standard. Nothing pushes any limits; it's all very catchy by the numbers Rock and Roll. I can picture the moms in their SUV's and Minivans swaying along to this as they debate getting an ankle tattoo.

As musicians, these guys are fine. I can't say this is necessarily awful; it's just not Metal or heavy. As I listen to this album and write this review I still wonder if this is a prank of some sort. These folks are clearly following their dreams, playing music I assume they like, and working hard for the successes they get. This is art and it's everyone's personal vision and I'm not going to dump on anyone who creates. It's just that as a reviewer on a site called Metal Temple, I feel it's my duty to run this through the filter of a fan of Heavy Metal. I'm also going to be blatantly honest. This is just not aimed at my demographic. This is not something I picture fans of Heavy Metal are going to blast when they want a vicious medley of brutality and technical skill. This is Rock and that's ok. The guitar work is nothing to necessarily be balked at. The two songs at the end of the album "The Game" and "Freedom" had some competent noodling. The album is mixed well. As much as I didn't want to hear the lead singer's caterwauling, there it was. The bass is audible and is also played well and the drumming serves as a good backbone to set the mid-tempo pace.

Once again I don't hate this release; I just realize it's not my cup of preferred beverage (the blood of my enemies). This is something I picture will have great appeal to lots of people. There's no reason to pick this up if you want Heavy Metal. It's what I think clear channel is calling Alternative Rock now.