Album Review: "Across Corpses Grey" by The Wolves of Avalon

Across Corpses Grey

Possibly the best activity in the world is drinking while talking, or talking while drinking.

When you're at the bar with your buddy, whether people watching, watching the sport on the TV, or just reminiscing about how great Kiss used to before they went straight up cosplay, telling a story is what it's all about.

No one sits at the bar with a cold pint and fails to tell a story, at least not at our table.

When one finds themselves across the table from this guy, a great many long stories can seep out, especially after being plied with a double IPA.

Telling an overarching story isn't the same as repeating that joke your co-worker told this morning. The storyteller has to be able to hold their listeners' interest. Therein, lies the task.

The Wolves of Avalon....or are they?

Today's album is a mere three tracks.

Upon looking at it for review, I thought, there's no way I'm reviewing a three track album, but then the title track.....

The song Across Corpses Grey is over thirty minutes long.

This song cannot rightly fit onto a side of an LP.

There are a lot of people who would be turned off by a singular epic song, but this author isn't one of them.

Progressive metal bands are a dime a dozen, but great ones cost fifteen cents for six.

Naturally, The Wolves of Avalon held my attention with their epic flair. This song is frankly a giant pile of epicness that Homer would find appealing.

It starts off slowly. So slowly the listener will check to make sure they hit play, but then it starts to fade in. The storytelling has begun.

Then the first of many long form solos begins. The music is never overly technical or inaccessible for those who don't know what sweep picked arpeggios are. Rush, they are not.

From time to time, cellos, flutes, and more fade in and out adding tension and emotion. The rhythm section finds something in themselves to keep this Pagan Metal epic coherent.

A thirty minute song can easily turn into a logistical mess, much less conceptual, but The Wolves of Avalon did not succumb to what lesser men may have.

There's far more to tell you about this album, but lets allow surprises to be surprises. I'll leave you with the following bit of advice.

Open up a Fuller's English Special Bitter and allow them to take you to another place and time.

Release: 3/11/16
Genre: British Pagan Metal
Label: DIY
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