Although Wolves At Bay have recently released a sparkly-fresh record, this review will cover their 2011 full-length debut on Animal Style Records, Only a Mirror. The band seems to have changed names and lineups during the course of their evolution, but here presents as a four-piece post-hardcore outfit, proud to hail from a suburb of New Haven, CT. The paper insert tucked in to the record sleeve prepares the listener for what's to come, with solemn talk of creating "a strong voice of angst and opposition." The angst they've got covered, although I can't imagine what they purport to be opposing.
The first couple of tracks feature vocals on the scream-y side, courtesy of the band's vocalist, lyricist, and one of two guitar players, William Hayes. This makes the lyrics difficult to decipher, which is unfortunate, because they're actually not bad. "Not bad" is a descriptor I find myself using often while giving the record repeated listens - it's fairly harmless, and kind of takes me back to a time circa 2001. Is it supposed to be a nostalgic throwback? Somehow I doubt it, but it just doesn't feel particularly contemporary.
If anything, it quickly becomes hard to conceive of the songs as separate, individual tracks. I guess it's okay to just write one type of song over and over, with fairly minute variations: some songs are fast, some are slower. Some songs have more melodic vocals and a few simple harmonies thrown in. Some songs feature more easily distinguishable guitar parts, and there's occasionally some nice interplay going on there. The drums are alright - he's pretty much playing what you would expect. Everyone's musically proficient, if not exactly virtuosic, which maybe isn't a fair expectation for this type of music anyway.
Trouble is, chord progressions, musical stylings, vocal melodies - all seem recycled. These aren't "bad" songs, and these aren't "bad" recordings. On the contrary, the album is well-produced and well-mixed, which makes it a great sounding record - but pretty much everything about this seems derivative. If the group's intention was to create a fairly generic sounding, post-hardcore (or as I would describe it, pop-punk) record, they've succeeded. If they were trying to stand out from the fray, or do something particularly creative or innovative with this album, I'm not buying it.
I'm not panning the album entirely. For instance, one interesting feature here is that many songs contain surprisingly poetic lyrics. There are also many recurring themes and images: rocks, forests, mirrors (natch), sleeping/waking, sinking/diving/falling. This may be the album's saving grace as it helps to create a sense of the songs forming a cohesive, unified album. Whether this represents a greater sophistication than I would initially have given this group credit for, or is the result of falling back on the same themes constantly due to a lack of creativity is hard to say.
I can acknowledge that this would probably be exciting live. I wonder, though, if the group even has fun playing these songs. There's absolutely nothing tongue-in-cheek about this record. Too bad I can't take these guys as seriously as they seem to take themselves. Maybe they're baring their souls or something, and that's cool. It just doesn't necessarily lend their album much weight or substance. Perhaps a decade ago I would have identified with this music a lot more; felt validated; and played it really loud after breaking up with my boyfriend or telling my parents to leave me alone. It's teenage stuff, lyrically and musically, and there's certainly an audience and a market for that, so - rock on, I guess.
