Album Review: Wig Wam - Never Say Die

I was not in a position to have heard Wig Wam's music before they took a break. I had heard of them, but knew not of their music until two of the members popped up with different projects. Trond Holter made the "Dracula: Swing Of Death" album with Jorn Lande that was one of my favorites of the last decade, while Age Sten Nilsen put together Ammunition with Erik Martensson of Eclipse. Both of those projects I was fond of, so now that their former group is back together, there should be a solid chance of this being great too, right? That's what we're going to find out.

The title track roars out of the gates with a heavy and almost thrashy riff that gives way to a more melodic song. It's big and powerful, and the hook is rousing. It's a nice blend of metal attitude with melodic rock sheen. Trond's guitar tone is pure metal, with waves of distortion filling the speakers. He gives the record a harder edge than much of the melodic rock I hear, and that alone is enough to make Wig Wam stand out from the pack.

"Kilimanjaro" is a song with some bluesier guitar playing, along with some hackneyed lyrics about not doing drugs but still being "high as Kilimanjaro". What confuses me is why they chose that mountain to write the song around, since it doesn't fit their geography, nor does it fit the geography of the blues sound. It strikes me as an odd choice to make for no apparent reason. It's not as if the rest of the song explains why that was the best illustration to draw.

After the anthemic opening song, the band gets caught between their two worlds a few times. The ballad "My Kaleidoscope Ark" is very good, but songs like "Where Does It Hurt" (What happened to the question mark that should be there?) don't have the fist-pumping chorus to go along with the heavy riffs. That problem pops up a few more times, as the different strains of songwriting fail to gel together as well as I would like them to. It isn't easy to be heavy and melodic at the same time, and Wig Wam shows the struggle in keeping yourself on that edge for an entire album.

On the songs where they do strike the balance, Wig Wam is great. Even on the lesser tracks, there's enough energy to the music to keep things going as a bit of a party record. There is definitely a feeling of good times 80s rock, thankfully without sounding dated like one of those records. There is some Van Halen in this, if David Lee Roth had been a better singer. Much as I cringe, I could imagine him singing about being a "heavy metal loverboy" just like Age does.

Trond throws in an instrumental track towards the end of the album, and it least this time it makes a bit more sense. I still don't care much for instrumentals, but it works a lot better in this context than in either of the Dracula themed concept albums. there is some very nice guitar playing in there, but not a lot of compelling listening, at least to my ears.

So when all is said and done, I come to this conclusion; Wig Wam is doing some good stuff, but they sound as if they are trying too hard, and I don't think this record is better than the Dracula project or Ammunition's last album. The other people they worked with brought out the best in them, and together the members of Wig Wam can't quite reach those same heights. "Never Say Die" is a fine record, and it helps get the year off to a solid start, but it's far from essential.