I have been waiting for "Legions Of Bastards" by the Swedish WOLF for some time now. After the good impression that was left by the band's earlier release of "Ravenous", I was expecting for another 80s oriented classic Heavy Metal thunder to pound hard in my face. Unfortunately, my expectations turned out to be a bit sour. Nevertheless, WOLF still employed their amazing talents to create an IRON MAIDEN vs JUDAS PRIEST style showdown of Traditional Metal. That important aspect contributed to the fact that although "Legions Of Bastards" wasn't as its Grammy nominated predecessor, it was still a good listening experience.

"Legions Of Bastards"might not sound as an 80s Metal release because of its modern production, yet, it surly felt like one. The overall engineering on display was well crafted with its sharp as a saw edge. What I mostly liked was the accuracy of the guitar sound that was well maintained by the smooth low gain, the results were profound. On most of the release, those were produced to sound like the 80s JUDAS PRIEST releases as "Screaming For Vengeance" or "Defenders Of The Fate".  So you can see that no matter what the quality of the material was, WOLF had a mighty production to back them up.

Material wise, as I mentioned earlier, I was less impressed, especially in comparison to the band's past outcomes. This album holds a few Heavy Metal gems that will sink their sharp teeth in your flesh as "Jekyll & Hyde" or the metallic anthem of "Skull Crusher". In addition, you might include other charmers as "Road To Hell", which was lyrically inspiring (I agree every word of it), the opening "Vicious Companions" which was a typical yet classy 80s Metal tune and "False Preacher" for some more straightforward attack. Moreover, the astounding features of the band's vocalist / guitarist, Niklas Stålvind, that still firmly holds that great steely Halford voice pattern, the high form solos and the rest of the performance by his peers, brought back some sweet memories of much older albums.

However, when I listened to the other tunes in line I have to admit that it seemed as if WOLF slightly lost their energy to do a full scale havoc. Some of the tracks sound a bit tired and seem to drag the listening. Probably  "K-141 Kursk", which presents the epos of the famous Russian Submarine that sunk nearly eleven years ago, was the suitable example to a song that had the potential to be more than just plain solid. It is not that WOLF's style has changed, these guys are extremely talented and they are bound to perform in the classical form Metal. Nonetheless, you can't always win them all can you. "Legions Of Bastards" is not by any chance a slip up, it has its greater moments and its lesser moments yet still maintained a positive statues for this crew.