Wolf (GBR) - Edge of the World (1984)^{Release ID: 9470}

Most of you probably aren't very familiar with 1980's "Midnight Rider/Red Lights" 7” single from obscure NWOBHM outfit Black Axe. But I quite liked Black Axe's sound, despite the fact that the two tracks differed from each other fairly noticeably. Well there’s a bit of a story to tell following that release as while the single wasn’t exactly a huge success for the band, it did create enough of a buzz in the underground heavy rock scene to attract interest from Chrysalis Records, who then proceeded to sign the band on for their first full-length album. Along with the recording deal, Chrysalis also asked the band to change their moniker from Black Axe to Wolf.

The newly named Wolf entered the studio in 1982 & put down the tracks for their debut studio album but, for reasons that I’m not entirely sure of, Chrysalis decided to shelve their plans to release the record. This led to Wolf’s debut sitting & gathering dust for the next two years which in effect eliminated any chance of success the band may have had to begin with. By the time “Edge Of The World” finally saw the light of day, the NWOBHM movement was swiftly declining along with the commercial interests of the bands it housed. In fact, I’m not even sure that Wolf were still together by the time the album came out which is a further indication of just how badly their record label had f**ked their rock star dreams. It’s a very sad story for a band that unquestionably deserved better. But let’s take a look at the album in question & see just how big a waste of potential it might have been.

The first thing I noticed about “Edge Of The World” is that it includes both of the songs from the Black Axe single, with “Midnight Rider” & “Red Lights” both being amongst the stronger material on the tracklisting. I’m not sure if they were re-recorded or not as I haven’t done a comparison but the production job on the album is very poor & quite inconsistent so it’s possible that the versions of these songs are the originals give the variation in sound across the album. The rhythm guitars are very thin & the drums sound pretty light-weight for the most part. Particularly the awful snare sound on some of these tracks. The whole thing sounds pretty distorted but that’s not anything unusual for a NWOBHM debut from 1982 to be honest.

Musically, this is heavily 70’s influenced with no single band being the major influence. Instead you can pick up elements of most of the major heavy rock & metal bands of the time with Black Sabbath, Judas Priest, Rainbow, Deep Purple, Thin Lizzy, Motorhead & AC/DC all raising their heads at times. The classic NWOBHM guitar harmonies are there of course but they sound more like the Thin Lizzy model than the Iron Maiden one. That’s not to say that the Irons haven’t had a hand in Wolf’s sound though as there a several examples of the trademark Maiden gallop on display here. The album encompasses what was very much the signature New Wave sound really with an equal reliance on hard rock & heavy metal. In fact, even the more metal focused tracks seem to come from the 70’s hard rock mould as far as the song-writing goes.

There’s a fair bit of pop in the way the hooks are constructed & a significant amount of bluesy boogie about some of these songs. Talented vocalist Chris English contributes to this bluesy feel as he’s got a raspy delivery that reminds me quite a bit of Rod Stewart at times. He’s not the most metal front man to be honest as he sounds pretty clean cut & unintimidating but there can be little doubt that he’s an important element in Wolf’s appeal. The twin guitar attack puts in a fine performance with some impressive hard rock guitar solos scattered across the tracklisting however their potential impact is limited by the dodgy production to an extent. The use of keyboards is notable on a few of these numbers too but they do tend to sound pretty dated & often a little cheesy so I’d probably suggest that they’d have been better off without them.

Most songs take a leasurely mid-tempo approach but the energy of the couple of faster numbers leaves me feeling that a bit more urgency might not have gone astray & also have attracted more genuine metal fans to the table. This isn’t a bad record though. I don’t mind it but it certainly isn’t gonna make any best-of lists & I don’t think it would have made Wolf into household names if it had been released two years earlier.