GREY WOLVES appreciation thread

[prelapsus]

Any thoughts on the new Grey Wolves / Vatican Shadow split LP? Been going back and forth on ordering this one ever since it was released.
While the promise of previously-unreleased mid-90s Wolves material and archival Vatican material from the project at its most industrial and least club-friendly is highly appealing, a part of me keeps wondering if, maybe, this stuff remained unreleased for as long as it did due to simply not meriting release.

I wasn't expecting much but I keep reaching for it... I'm not sure it would be the case if these tracks were released separately though. The VS/GW combination definitely makes it enticing for me. It also helps that the record is packaged beautifully. I love the artwork and presentation.

[Minus1]

Exit Wounds. 12 tracks. 62min.

I know this is a comp. Rare tracks? The cards don't tell me dick about when.

I keep droning on about vocal-heavy starts to GW albums. Here's another!

Oh. And then The Shining? Ok - shut the fuck up now. That one got old real fast. 😂 Tracks 1-2 isn't a promising start for me.

FreakAnimal did a detailed review of this. Mine will be...less detailed.

Tracks 3-4 corrects things, somewhat. Lofi industrial beats and dronage.

Ouch. Terrible edits. Scissors vice fade/segue?

This must be mostly old stuff. 80s even? It sounds very "primitive" compared to the albums I heard.

I don't think I'm feeling FA's sense of joy with this one.

New wave beats! I think Haircut 100 did this better.

But that's followed by grimy fucking thing. There's no flow here. I know - it's a comp.

Yeah, Massenmord is great. I'm thinking early Swans.

And Bodycount is wonderful. Eerie and mysterious, then ending with some pop tune.

Blacknoise is compelling - sounds like corrugated sheets being shaken.

This album might be great from tracks 8-12. It was a bumpy ride for me before then.

Mamas and Papas. Bufallo Springfield. I suppose a Manson reference earlier?

Jesse Jackson died today!

Nah...track 11 ruined it. Rock beats. Nondescript organ noodling. A dozen not very good 80s bands did this better. And it just won't fucking end.

There's some good stuff on this album, but equally, stuff that annoys me. And when those two extremes stand side by side it gets disorienting, in a bad way.

My little 5 album GW journey here summarized:

-2 albums are brilliant. Absolute keepers.
-2 albums are at least quite good, and I really need to hear them again, soon.
-1 album I don't care to ever play again. (Sorry FA.)

[re:evolution]

Any thoughts on the new Grey Wolves / Vatican Shadow split LP? Been going back and forth on ordering this one ever since it was released.
While the promise of previously-unreleased mid-90s Wolves material and archival Vatican material from the project at its most industrial and least club-friendly is highly appealing, a part of me keeps wondering if, maybe, this stuff remained unreleased for as long as it did due to simply not meriting release.

I wasn't expecting much but I keep reaching for it... I'm not sure it would be the case if these tracks were released separately though. The VS/GW combination definitely makes it enticing for me. It also helps that the record is packaged beautifully. I love the artwork and presentation.

I agree the presentation and packaging of the release, plus the combination of obscure material from the two projects makes this feel more than the sum of its parts. Individual releases would not have faired as well. So, I have enjoyed the few spins of this thus far, but not sure how much I would reach for this in future though. Perhaps consider it an archive type release than a main event?