On the face of it, there isn’t a lot to say about the unreconstructed true metal attack of Cologne’s WarWolf; In the past they’ve been likened to Iron Maiden‘s eighties output sung through the vocal filter of Blaze Bayley, and there’s certainly an element of that on The Final Battle. However at their most Maidenesque – A New Hope basically seems to be Brave New World played faster and with one or two stylistic tweaks – the Bayleyesque nature of Andres Von Lipinski takes on a slightly less obvious hue, Indeed all of the Maiden references on TFB, to these ears at least, seem to find their roots in the post-reunion days, but that’s a debate for another day…

If you strip away the more naive material – The Dark Emperor is simply too gauche for words – you find a band that often employs a deliciously skewed, unique approach to their songwriting that actually gives them something of an intriguing point of difference. The best track on the album, Fight The Invaders, strips away the Maiden wannabe pretence and, with the application of some truly impressive vocal melodies, presents itself as something altogether more interesting than  simply seeing how many different galloping riffs can be shoehorned into a single song.

What’s more, this style seems to suit Von Lipinski’s vocal better, leading to a feeling that here is not only his but the band’s ultimate wheelhouse. The band clearly know a thing or two about song arrangement – especially vocally – and I for one would be happy to trade a bit of metal for a bit more musicality. This is a group of musicians of clear talent – that much is obvious – and it would be nice to hear them exploring those elements of their collective musical personality that are a little less obvious a little bit more.

The Final Battle releases on January 31st.