a review of some UK metalcore band

Metalcore band Wolves follows up almost 10 years after releasing a promising EP

The whole Wolves rhythm section is just slamming counts when “A Stolen Horse” opens. This blunt force is countered by a clean, flat vocal harmony. Twenty seconds later, the song turns to airy, echoey notes pinging from guitars against more heavy drums and clean vocals.

The metalcore band is fond of these abrupt changes. The tracks often sit just at the edge of traditional songs' reach; Wolves tests and favors a math-curious approach. Songs on “Self-Titled” level up and level down rather than flow, and the music engages you more than it moves you.

I still like groove, though, and Wolves flirts with it from time to time. “All Or Something,” for example—after a typically halting 45-second opening sequence, the band hits a confident little riff that takes the song into and out of a heavy groove.

The album’s promotional copy cites Every Time I Die, Dillinger, and Poison the Well. Those bands? Okay, maybe some. But from that great era, I’d suggest Wolves are a bit more like Candiria than ETID and Dillinger.

These musicians played in other bands before forming When the Wolf Comes Home in 2016 and releasing the EP Gone Are the White Flags on Damage Limitation Records soon after. They stalled out after that but finally are releasing a worthy full-length metalcore album, “Self-Titled,” on September 5, 2025, on Ripcord Records. The drums sound crisp and deep with a very light touch on the cymbals. The guitars are full and tight, the bass seamlessly filling in the bottom end. The band says four members share vocal duties.

The Poison the Well reference makes sense when you hear songs like “The Rich Man and the Sea.” This is metalcore—some clean singing complimented by hardcore scream-shout singing, and chugging riffs that bookend more melodic guitar sections. This song recalls those turn-of-the-century Poison the Well albums.

Slow, patient, and heavy, “A Guide to Accepting Ones Fate” opens with generous guitars. And here is another groove that deserves a call out—at 1:35, a curly riff takes hold, and the band really jams. A few moments later, it’s gone.

 

about the sense of a lost dream

Your body stops metabolizing after exposure—fever, suffering, no help through difficult hours remaining you put a thousand ideas in the universe nobody could see you. Certain a borg is a sign your mind is gone to flicker yet next season approaches as memories get thicker of teens in the garage 5 feet into the rain. Keep rounding until past is as big as a house and I cannot see these curled dimensions.

 

Electrons annihilate the charge and burn down the distance between us two stars.

a short review of a lo-fi indie guy's singles

The single, "Homesick," is the latest in a string of low-key charmers

Lo-fi bedroom indie rock project Parent Teacher released the bruised single "Homesick" last month. Its melancholy opening—fresh strings chiming through the song's chords on an acoustic—is followed by tinny drums and a bass that's a little louder and grittier than you'd expect. With the school bell having rung, out comes the resigned but pure and melodically simple vocal: "I lied instead of being direct, my feels protected the disconnect."

The sound mix is a tad off, and I resisted at first. But after listening again and trying the two other songs released this year, the music grew on me.

Parent Teacher reminds me of Grandaddy, Ben Gibbard, and 22º Halo. This artist has a knack for melody and songwriting. Sound engineering and all that stuff can be fixed, but without the melody and songwriting, you have nothing.

"Homesick" is posted below, but I recommend trying "Capital Artist" and "Fire Door," too. They aren't all sad-guy songs. And—confession time—I like the raw, stripped-down clips of these songs ("Fire Door," especially) posted on his Instagram more than the released versions.

about how I miss our talks

She said she wanted to quit this job and go to Texas and work at a nursery or something. Then she told me she left her husband. I had suspected as much the first time she mentioned quitting. This time she also told me she tried taking medication to stop smoking, but she ended up crying for three days and calling her husband, who almost persuaded her to go to some kind of couple’s therapy retreat so they could get back together.

a goodbye to romance

  

 

 

Related:

• about Ozzy Dying
• about “Into the Void: From Birth to Black Sabbath—And Beyond” by Geezer Butler
  
• something about "Perdurabo: The Life of Aleister Crowley" by Richard Kaczynski
• a draft of my all-time favorite albums list—a list that constantly changes but includes constants
• the lyrics to Ozzy Osbourne's "Tonight" 

about “Into the Void: From Birth to Black Sabbath—And Beyond” by Geezer Butler

On July 5, 2025, Ozzy Osbourne and Black Sabbath performed together live for last time. Ozzy could no longer walk because of Parkinson's. Ozzy died about two weeks later—Tuesday, July 22. That was the end.

Guitar player Tony Iommi, drummer Bill Ward, bassist Geezer Butler, and singer Ozzy Osbourne formed Black Sabbath in Birmingham, 1968. Osbourne was fired in 1979. The band carried on a while with other singers—including Ronnie James Dio—but Ozzy-era Sabbath is the real Sabbath.

I listened to “We Sold Our Soul for Rock 'n' Roll”—a compilation album originally released in 1976—over and over when I was young. My appreciation and knowledge of the music has only grown since.

Fans like me are familiar with the stories, but I still wanted to read Geezer Butler’s memoir, Into the Void: From Birth to Black Sabbath—And Beyond, released in 2023. I’d heard it was good, and it is. I enjoyed reading his firsthand account of the legends. Some notes:

• Ozzy’s dad supported his son’s interest and ambition. The family was dirt poor, but dad bought Ozzy a PA system—crucial for a singer!
• Ozzy was always crazy. He was probably even crazier than people think.
• The drug and alcohol use are a huge part of the band’s story. Butler was less prone to addiction than his band mates, and probably consumed the least drugs and alcohol. That said, he consumed a lot. If you watch video of the 1974 California Jam, for example, you’ll see Butler performing while out of his mind on cocaine.
• They could perform even if they were really messed up. Butler says a lot of that is “muscle memory.”
• Fans know Tony Iommi bullied Ozzy in school and could hardly stand him at first, but it sounds like Bill and Ozzy physically fought the most during their time as a band.
• When Tony was holding it together, he was the most business-like.
• The making of “Vol. 4” is one of the legends. Butler describes a hill of cocaine being poured on the table, with more cocaine continually flown in. Butler writes, “that record cost $70,000 to make—and the cocaine bill was $75,000.” He also describes bowls of marijuana lying around and heroin being available. The band was always wired and up all night. They wanted to call the album “Snowblind,” but the record company said no. Butler writes, “However, the record company did turn a blind eye to the liner notes, in which we thanked ‘the great COKE-cola company of Los Angeles.’ And we meant it, because all that cocaine had fueled the creation of a great album.”
• Sabbath partied with everyone. Zappa’s parties sounded next-level, with him giving girls champagne enemas and so on.
• Toward the late 70s with Ozzy, the band flagged, and opening bands like Kiss and Van Halen would blow them away on tour.
• Butler cites a few reasons for firing Ozzy. They were all messed up on drugs and alcohol, but Ozzy was hardly functional, missing rehearsals and shows. He also stopped contributing lyrics.
• The other reason for firing Ozzy is that he would refuse to sing if he didn’t like what Butler and Iommi came up with. Well, why should he sing something he doesn't like? But if he wasn’t contributing, then I can understand how that might be frustrating. 
• Bill was tasked with firing Ozzy and apparently never got over it.
• They co-headlined a tour with Blue Oyster Cult, and BOC apparently were jerks.
• Sharon Osbourne, as a businessperson and Ozzy’s manager, is known to be ruthless. Butler confirms this but says it in a pretty complimentary way.
• Ozzy sounds like a sweet guy who genuinely cared for friends and reached out during hard times, even when relationships were on life support.
• The original Sabbath lineup tried to record with Rick Rubin in the 2000s, but Butler—and the others, presumably—were underwhelmed.

Butler’s youth and the Ozzy–Sabbath years comprise more than half the book. He also talks about his depression, being a vegetarian (a challenge when touring in the early days), his relationship with the supernatural, and his wide-ranging personal tastes in music.  

In his closing remarks, he notes that rock and roll excess “is largely a thing of the past.” He cites the band’s tough upbringing as key to their endurance. Sabbath could never happen again, he says, because the odds of four gritty working-class kids making it today are “slim to none. They wouldn’t look ‘right,’ they wouldn’t sound ‘current’ and they’d be too much of a risk for major record companies.”

A shame.

More notes:

• A lot of the anecdotes are known.
• Sabbath still had some success with Ronnie James Dio. Friction started when he asserted himself, wanting his due.
• I sampled Butler's solo albums, didn't like the singer. 
• Original band lineups are usually the best. Does post-Syd Barrett Floyd count as an exception?
• Sabbath played one previous farewell, in 2005.
• I read this in May 2025. The farewell concert in Birmingham happened on July 5. (Proceeds were donated to charity.) Ozzy died just over two weeks later. He and Sharon must have known the end was near.
• Freelance writer and journalist Ben Dirs contributed research and helped Butler tell his story in an easy, plain voice. In acknowledging Dirs, Butler also notes that "Some of my original manuscript was deemed unsuitable for modern readers—times have changed was the excuse I was given, but I suppose as publishers they know more of what is acceptable these days."

Postscript: I have other book reviews to "publish," of books I read before I read Void, but Ozzy is still front of mind. Last week, I tried to comment on Ozzy's passing.