Artist: WOLVES AMONG US
Album: Hollow Gloom
Metalcore quintet, WOLVES AMONG US, is releasing their second album, Hollow Gloom, on November 19th, 2021, through Prime Collective.
WOLVES AMONG US hails from Aalborg, Denmark, and are positively known and recognized for their ability to combine the heavy with the pop-ish. “The coming album is a musical depiction of the various struggles we face in life. Personal, societal, and mental struggles are the main themes on this record. Despite the apparent desperation in the songs, the underlying theme is one of hope,” muses vocalist Jimmy Bertelsen.
Hollow Gloom consists of eleven tracks: “Shikari”, “Haunted”, “We Are, Reviled”, “Calamity”, “Chimera”, “Dejection”, “Animals”, “Destroyer of Worlds”, “Trapped In I”, and “Fragile”. Two of the songs, “Calamity” and “Chimera”, have been released as singles. A music video for “Calamity” and an official lyric video for “Chimera” are available on Youtube.
WOLVES AMONG US reminds me of Bullet For My Valentine. Some of the songs, specifically “Trapped In I,” give me Linkin Park vibes. While their sound is a little heavy for me—very loud, intense, with lots of screaming—I can appreciate extremely talented musicians when I hear them. The technicality of the instrumentals is astounding, and the lead singer has a melodic, haunting voice (when he’s singing and not screaming, that is).
The lyrics are the cherry on top. As I usually find with heavy metal music, the lyrics are heartbreaking, soul-bearing, raw, and poetic. I could definitely see myself blasting any Hollow Gloom song after a break-up or a bad day. Two of my favourites are the track “Haunted” and “Chimera”.
From my perspective, “Haunted” is about the pain of feeling like no one understands you, with lyrics like “see me now, see me now, tell me where do I fit in?”. While “Chimera”, one of the tracks the band has released as a single, is about someone you loved completely destroying you—“My world was set ablaze, and the fire was raging, I was trapped in a haze, her flames were consuming, my world has burned, now everything is dust, my soul has turned to ashes”.
Although not an actual music video, the official lyric video for “Chimera” is artistic in its own right, very clearly reflecting the image of WOLVES AMONG US. The video for “Chimera” features flashes of a beautiful woman turning more and more grotesque and creepy as the song goes on. The music video for “Calamity” is simple yet very visually appealing. The video features quick-succession shots of the band playing in what looks to be an old church or abandoned building. Personally, I like when artists don’t try too hard, stick to what they’re obviously comfortable with, and let the listener focus on the music.
Overall, I really, really like Hollow Gloom.
Check out WOLVES AMONG US on Instagram, Facebook, and Spotify.