Free Metals: Wolf Blood - Wolf Blood

Just when I thought I'd heard all the bands with "wolf" in their names, along comes Wolf Blood out of Duluth, Minnesota. I'll admit that I was a bit skeptical and almost passed, but it's a good thing that I didn't - Wolf Blood is for real.

This self-titled cassette begins with "Witch," and you can tell what's in store for you pretty quickly. Wolf Blood play stoner metal with a healthy dose of sludge and maybe a hint of grunge thrown in at times.

"Ochro Ologo," a scorching instrumental, gets off to a fast start and is a little heavier than the opening track. "Dancing on your grave" has a Sabbath vibe going on and really kicks it into overdrive about halfway through. "Black Moon" and "Exile" bring more of the same, but this is not a bad thing. The slow start of the twelve-minute closer "Procession of the Witch" lulls you into thinking the song is going nowhere until you realize that it's simply building itself up to be the highlight of the record.

Wolf Blood is available from the band's Bandcamp page at the "name your price" option, or you can pick up the cassette version, which is limited to 100 copies. It reminds me a bit of Harvester's The Blind Summit Recordings from 2012, which is also available at the "name your price" option.