I’ve been following vocalist Tommy Vext since 2007 when he was in Divine Heresy, through his venture with Snot (first time seeing him, and Snot, live), the start up and strangely quick downfall of Westfield Massacre (where I saw him on their 1st mini tour here in Vegas), and now with Bad Wolves.

Bad Wolves is made up of Tommy, Doc Coyle (God Forbid), John Boecklin (Devildriver), Chris Cain (Bury Your Dead, For The Fallen Dreams), and Kyle Konkiel (In This Moment, Vimic); So there’s definitely a pedigree here. One that I was excited about. After God Forbid split up in 2012, I’d actually been hoping that Vext and Coyle would form something, and it happened.

This album is the perfect blend of bashing your face in heavy, absolutely melodic and accessible with actual radio play, and is a prime example of how to do it right in 2018. They had a massive hit, their cover of The Cranberries classic “Zombie”. Pretty sure we’ve all heard it by now. On Spotify alone it has over 20 million streams. For a brand new band, that’s quite the achievement for today.

It’s a little difficult to put Bad Wolves under an exact genre. Obviously they’re Metal, but they have Metalcore, Djent, Alternative, and Hard Rock blended within. They can pretty much play with any band or go on any tour and not feel out of place. No song feels out of place on “Disobey”. The most extreme songs, the mid tempo ones, and the highly radio friendly ones, it all still sounds and feels like you’re listening to Bad Wolves.

I can’t say for sure if it’ll top my year end list, but I have a very good feeling it’ll be atleast in the top 5 of 2018. This was worth the wait, and they’ve already established themselves before “Disobey” even dropped. A lot of buzz and build up over the last year lead to this, and I’m sure Tommy filling in for Ivan Moody in Five Finger Death Punch didn’t hurt the exposure. All the puzzle pieces lined up correctly for them to step right into it, and there’s no disappointment.

I won’t pick out any standout songs. It’s all good, and listening to it from front to back isn’t a chore in the slightest. This just dropped yesterday and I’m ready to hear what they’re coming up with next.

Rating? 4.5/5

Reviewed by Marcus Miller

#BadWolves #Disobey #DivineHeresy #GodForbid #Devildriver #WestfieldMassacre #BuryYourDead #ForTheFallenDreams #InThisMoment #Vimic