It takes a certain sort of courage to "Live the life", as it were. Things can change for a lot of reasons, but does anyone else remember someone from high school who was a total studded-wristbands-and-black-clothes metalhead who went on to live the button-down life selling insurance or something like that? This critic used to laugh about it but perhaps HOMER SIMPSON was speaking for us all when he said, "Now I'm lucky if I can find half an hour a week in which to get funky."

We can afford a certain admiration then for the ones who stay committed to their genre, especially the collective of musicians who evolve but never trade in their signature sound. Formed in Sweden back in 1995, the lineup and the even the name has changed over the years, but the current formation of WOLFBRIGADE has compromised nothing for their latest EP, "Anti-Tank Dogs", a modern treatment of Hardcore Punk with the benefit of a few decades' experience.

The title track leads in with an instantly discomforting cacophony, chaotic and powerful but far from raw. The refinement is not so evident at first but, fact is, there aren't any miscues or other production errors, just some good old Hardcore Punk from guys who know how to play it. That much can also be said of the second track, "Brainruler", which continues the operation at an even more blistering pace.

The best is saved for last, however, as "Necronomion" starts with an uncharacteristically sedate intro, but the song which follows gives up none of the former intensity, managing instead to create what can only be described as a matured Hardcore Punk, running in the steps of bands like PiL or ANTI-NOWHERE LEAGUE, bands which offered a decent segue for latter year punks to give the whole thing a rest.

Since the band's membership has changed, an inevitable evolution was bound to happen, but WOLFBRIGADE has proven with "Anti-Tank Dogs" that it doesn't have to be all that bad. Still, three songs which barely crack ten minutes probably isn't going to convince the jaded among us that the best years are yet to come.

Nevertheless, "Anti-Tank Dogs" is a pleasant enough experience for the average metalhead, and indeed for the average punk as well. If this EP is a glimpse of an album to come, then perhaps WOLFBRIGADE is worth keeping an eye on.