Wig Wam-Wall Street

Frontiers
2012

Norway's WigWam return with their first new album in two years. Their last album "Non stop rock -n roll" received varying responses with some people praising it and others being left cold. I found it to be uneven although it definitely leaned towards the good side. For those hoping the new album would be more consistent-well, I'll get to that. This band is not deep and they do not play highly involved tracks. This is simple anthems that are big on volume and melody but lack skill and depth. However they have proved over the years that they can pull this style off better than most bands. They know how to write some catchy songs. The new albums begins strong with the explosive title track and "OMG! I wish I had a gun" blasting on. The pace slows down with "Victory is sweet" but the momentum keeps going because this one offers up sweet and smooth melodies. "The bigger the better" falls somewhere between decent and filler. Even though it runs just over two and a half minutes it still felt like they work out enough before recording it. "Bleeding daylight" comes with the band trying to sound serious. Despite a wall of squealing solos this still sounds stretched thin. You are losing me guys, so what do they come up with next? Yep, a ballad. "Tides will turn" tries to be slick and it's not sickening, but it's very dull. "Wrong can feel so right" comes on with slowed down groove that eventually plays to the band's strength and they run with it. They hit the big choruses and the album is beginning to get back on track. "One million enemies" comes bouncing on big and loud yet it never takes the time to catch it's breath. It also never does enough to hook me or establish itself. "Try my body on" begins promising enough with a heavy charge, but half way through I am staring at the running time waiting for it to end because it's just alright. "Natural High" goes a different route with a slow winding path leading to the build-up. The change of pace is adequate, but the results are just decent. The albums ends with "Things money can't buy. Yes, which is a slow instrumental the revolves around a lot of guitar squeals that are stretched out, but nothing special. Not a bad song, but not a great choice to close the album. So it's another mixed bag that's about half good solid hard rock and the other half is average or just plain filler.