A glance at the killer artwork and the first 40 seconds of music alone are enough to convince that Slaves Of The Wolf is vintage, old school death metal of the highest quality. Chicago’s Bear Mace have been around since 2012, with two full-length albums released in 2017 and 2020 respectively. It is quite a surprise for me that Slaves Of The Wolf is once again released independently, because the band has proved it has the songs, the attitude and the musicianship to be part of the biggest metal labels.
The title track shows a lot of rawness, grit and bruises the listener with sharp guitar riffs and a clever structure. The echo, cavernous effect on the vocals (à la Better Off Dead) is worth mentioning, because it adds originality and fits the music very well. Worthless Lives then immediately puts a silly grin on my face with its total early Death worhip, brutal rhythm section and fantastic production. Early Death, Massacre and Obituary are the obvious inspiration for The Iceman Cometh and Captured And Consumed as well, but the songs are composed with great attention to detail and performed with stellar musicianship. The song-craft ability of Bear Mace is impeccable and the band avoids the “copycat” label by composing the best songs possible. Captured And Consumed even includes guest vocals by Kam Lee!
Heretics Burn deviates just a little bit from that formula with an original rhythm-pattern, unpredictable structure and a fantastic solo. Phophecy is a mid-tempo stomper, with another stellar performance by all band members, John Porada in particular playing the bass as if possessed by Terry Butler. Once again, the production is so good, with a “fat”, gut-wrenching sound, and the man to be praised about that is no other than Sanford Parker (Eyehategod, Nachtmystium, Hammers of Misfortune and many more) with Damian Herring (Horrendous) responsible for the mix and mastering. This is one of the best sounding death metal albums from the last several years, full stop.
Cancerous Winds is the perfect album closer, offering the next godly portion of riffs and solos by Mark Sugar and Tommy Bellino – an absolute joy for old school fanatics like myself.
2025 is obviously proving to be the year of death metal with so many fantastic albums released so far it’s scary. However, even in such a competitive company, Slaves Of The Wolf stands head and shoulders above the majority and is an obligatory addition to every collection. I’m out of superlatives already. Just get it.
10/10
Slaves Of The Wolf will be out on June 6th and can be ordered from HERE
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