The five-piece band from Germany was formed in 2003 and released their debut demo entitled The Fangs Of The Southern Death one year later, playing melodic Death Metal. Later the same year, WOLFCHANT produced another demo, The Herjan Trilogy; in this demo the band presents a different performing style with Epic additions following a Black Metal approach. The positive response to the second demo reinforced the Germans who added a second guitarist, Derrmorh, in the line up and managed to get signed with CCP Records. Without loosing time, CCP Records released the band's self-produced debut album Bloody Tales Of Disgraced Lands in November of 2005.
Fortified by the positive feedback, regarding the album and the concert reviews, WOLFCHANT return with their second album entitled A Pagan Storm. As the title implies there are distinct folklore elements embed in WOLFCHANT's music, bringing to mind similar acts like CRUACHAN or WAYLANDER. The band blends some classic Black Metal vocals with fast and Epic guitar riffs. The clean back vocals play a significant role, especially during the sing-along choruses where the Epic feeling is underlined. The use of some non-metal instruments like flute, mouth harp, tambourine and accordion helps the band to create a Celtic/Pagan atmosphere that goes hand-in-hand with the classic Nordic mythology found almost everywhere in the lyrics.
The intro, entitled Growing Storms, is the first taste to WOLFCHANT's Pagan Metal comprised by fast and groovy tempos with double guitar uplifting riffs and catchy choruses. The main problem of this album is that the aforementioned initial taste is the only you'll get after you have listened the rest of the 10 tracks. There is an awkward feeling of repetition and that everything sounds predictable. The fast rhythm parts with the aggressive vocals like in Guardians Of The Forest or The Axe, The Sword, The Wind And A Wolf sound great with pretty good guitar work. The use of the band's native language in Starkend Trunk Aus Feindes Schadel and Voran has an excellent result in terms of aggression and heaviness.
This is definitely not a bad album but it's really nothing special or groundbreaking. The band needs to work more on the aggressive parts and possibly move away from the happy guitar melodies that somehow ruin the whole atmosphere. To sum things up; it is proper to say that you must be a die-hard fan of this kind of Pagan-meets-Black Metal music genre to acquire this album.