With the amps still warm from 2024's coruscating comeback Life Knife Death, veteran Swedish punk-metal masters Wolfbrigade strike back like a wounded cobra with their loudest, fullest, thickest-sounding record yet. And that's no happy accident. On their twelfth LP (the first three released under the Wolfpack monicker, 1996–99), the quintet concertedly resolved to shake up their habitual processes and interrogate their customary methodology. "As the songs started to fall into place, we decided to do something we hadn't done in many years," explains the band. "For the last decade we've recorded, produced and mixed our albums ourselves. This time we wanted to work with someone from outside the band whose work we respect and who we felt would understand what Wolfbrigade is about."
The honour fell to Lawrence Mackrory - already a trusted collaborator with the likes of Meshuggah, Katatonia, Paradise Lost and Bloodbath - at Necromorbus Studio, the converted Baptist church where Watain and Mayhem refined their occult chaos. The strength of these decisions pay off instantly in the massive, febrile intensity of the captured sound as it bursts from the speakers like a haywire freight train. "Rather than building the songs layer by layer, we wanted to capture the band as a single unit," notes Wolfbrigade. "The push and pull that happens when five people are locked into the same moment. There's a tension in those kinds of performances that's difficult to recreate any other way. Without a safety net, the focus sharpens and something else takes over. Sometimes the songs begin to take on a life of their own. More than anything, it leaves room for the unexpected."
The urge to initiate a new working environment may have been emboldened by the return of drummer David 'Dadde' Stark, who originally hammered the d-beats for Wolfbrigade from 2002-2015. "Everything clicked immediately. The chemistry was still there," attests the band. "The shows felt vital, and suddenly it felt both interesting and relevant to return to the old songs again." This fresh boost of energy and spirit resulted in 2025's seat-of-your-pants live album Kill To Live, a heartening reaffirmation of the band's first principles. "Recording it was a reminder of what Wolfbrigade is at its most fundamental level," observes the band. "Instead of taking a break afterwards, we moved almost straight into working on Howl From Underground, and began developing ideas that had always been embedded in the concept of Lycanthro Punk. Out of those conversations grew the text Notes On Failed Domestication, a manifesto that became the starting point for the album and the themes running through its twelve songs."
As for the writing process, the songs took shape in the band's own Wolfden Studio, a creative working environment the band are keen to maintain. "We still work within the same narrow framework that has always defined Wolfbrigade, but we keep pushing against its edges," asserts the band. "New melodies, new angles, new ways of getting where we're going." Among these new angles we may find the almost gothic melancholic melody underpinning When Dogs Cry; the crafty, atmospheric note patterns of Cold War Bootlicker; the long chords and rock-steady surge of Seeking Scapegoats. But each track is so steeped in the workings of the Wolfbrigade grinder, nothing sticks out as wildly diverse or out of place. "For us it's never about sounding different for the sake of sounding different," says the band. "If a song feels hungry, if there's a primitive energy there, then it deserves to exist. That was the feeling we followed throughout the work on Howl From Underground."
The term 'Lycanthro Punk' recurs throughout the band's 30+ year history, a catchy coinage acknowledging their d-beat raw punk roots and adding a maniacal bloodthirst and superhuman strength to the mix. It abides as the band's preferred musical identity, so their own definition is essential: "Lycanthro Punk has always been about that force which refuses to be tamed," explains the band. "The same force that runs through myth, folklore and philosophy throughout history. The wolf is one name for it. Dionysus another. A restlessness that survives civilization."
Limited red black marble vinyl pressing.
Please note - image is a mock up only, actual colours may vary on finished product*
Tracklisting
Side A:
1. Caveman Motherfuck
2. Doomrunner
3. Howl from Underground
4. Born to Rot
5. When Dogs Cry
6. Cold War Bootlicker
Side B:
7. Fat Man Hellscape
8. Headhunting
9. Cosmic Meatgrinder
10. Seeking Scapegoats
11. Man Is Wolf to Man
12. Tangled Steel Mask
Condition: NEW
Brand: 100% Official Wolfbrigade 'Howl From Underground' (Black) T-Shirt printed on 100% cotton garment
Neckline: Crew Neck
Fit: Regular Fit
Sleeve Type: Short Sleeve
Material: Cotton
Colour: Black Garment
Garment Care: Machine wash at 30 degrees, wash inside out, don't bleach, dry low, don't iron decoration
