Detailed Reviews [Glorious Wolf - 2019 - "Zodiac"]

Prolusion. Dutch project GLORIOUS WOLF is the creative vehicle of composer and musician Ruud Dielen, formed as a creative outlet following a number of years being a musician in various cover and tribute bands. As Glorious Wolf he has two albums to his name. The first album, "Aquarius", was released in 2017, while "Zodiac" was self-released in the fall of 2019.

Analysis. One of the main thoughts that struck me when listening to this album is that it must have taken a fairly vast amount of studio hours to compile this album. As Dielen handles most instrument duties himself, assembling the number of layers used in the more expressive compositions at hand here in itself must have been quite the demanding task to master. Other than that, this is an album that is a bit challenging to pigeonhole into any of the main subcategories of progressive rock. For myself I'd probably file this album somewhere under neo-progressive rock, due to the extensive use of floating, atmospheric keyboards and Mellotron details as well as the emphasis on mood and atmosphere, but a case could be argued for this project meriting a placement alongside bands I tend to describe as Floydian as well. This due to a distinct blues flavoring that is something of an ongoing undercurrent throughout this album, and then especially due to the guitar soloing at times tipping a hat or three in the direction of David Gilmour. But atmospheric laden progressive rock, frequently with multiple instrument layers, is probably how to best summarize this album experience. Those who love and treasure vintage keyboard sounds will get their fill of that, as well as those who know, love and treasure expansive guitar soloing. And for my sake, I think this album might have been a better one if focusing on the instrumental sections as well, as Dielen knows how to craft some tantalizing instrumentals. The song 'Questions' arguably the finest example of this at hand. It is when the music isn't instrumental that the main challenges on this album appears. Vocalist Anema is a passable vocalist, but appears to be out of his depth when dealing with the more expressive type of music that progressive rock is. He comes across as the weakest links in many of the songs here, but on 'Feelin' Blue' he gets to showcase that he is actually a more than decent singer, the blues explored on this song one that makes me suspect that he is well inside his comfort zone in this specific type of music. To the point that this expanded blues composition mixed with Floydian elements rise a head and a shoulder above the rest of the songs at hand, among other reasons due to the vocals of aforementioned Anema. Other elements that were detrimental for me were the mix, and then again mainly in the songs featuring vocals. This is probably a question of taste more than anything esle, but I felt too many passages became slightly chaotic. The ballad 'Poets', while not the song suffering most from this, is the song where it's easiest to catch what irks me: That to many instruments are too dominant in the arrangements, resulting in too many sounds fighting for your attention and thus making it more challenging to focus on the totality rather than the different individual elements. That being said, for many this will probably be a minor thing, and quite a few may not even hear this at all. It all depends on how you listen to music I guess. In addition I dare say that drum enthusiasts probably won't get much pleasure from this album, as the drums are rather pedestrian throughout. Some nice, beefy and expressive bass guitar does make up for some of the shortcomings in the rhythm department though, and in many of the instrumentals in particular the strong focus on guitars and keyboards sees to it that the underlying rhythm section actually works rather well with a more steady and straight forward approach too.

Conclusion. Glorious Wolf's second album "Zodiac" strikes me as a hit or miss affair. Those generally fond of atmospheric laden progressive rock with tie ins to later day Pink Floyd, blues and neo-progressive rock strikes me as the key audience for this album, and quite a few in that crowd will appreciate the music provided on this album. But those that require more expressive rhythms and a strong vocalist to be a part of this totality will probably find the weak points of those aspects on this album somewhat detrimental. As an album experience, this is one that merits a check prior to a potential purchase.

Progmessor: March 2020
The Rating Room