Wolves At The Gate - Captors

Artist: Wolves At The Gate
Album: Captors
Release Date: July 3, 2012
Label: Solid State Records


Solid State has been a staple in terms of heavy christian music. Unfortunately, it also has lost some of it's greatest artists in the last few years (i.e. The Chariot, and Norma Jean.)  However, lately Solid State has really started to kick it up a notch. With some of the recent "new breed" signings, Solid State has given us The Overseer, and Wolves At The Gate. Two bands that I believe will be shaping Solid State back in to the label it used to be.Wolves At The Gate has been on my radar for a couple years now.  They released their EP We Are The Ones last year independently, and it was instantly a hit for me.  Their sound was not super unique, but they did have the maturity to come in to their own. When I heard that Solid State was signing them, I was really excited to hear them expand on the mastered sound of the EP.  Captors, is something really special.




Captors starts out with 'The Harvest', a song that captures so much emotion in the first few seconds, that you are immediately curious about what else this band could possibly do. Next is 'Awaken' which is a song that really showcases the clean vocals, and the outstanding lyrics. Guitarist Steve Cobucci handles the cleans, and is probably one the best singers in the genre. His vocals are crisp, passionate, and never overproduced. I am a huge fan of scripture based lyrics.  By that I mean, I love when a  band can take scripture and dissect a passage and put it in their own words.  'Dead Man' is another highlight on the album, again encasing great vocals with solid lyrics.


Captors keeps a good steady pace throughout, and never feels tiring, or overdone.  There seems to always be something new in each of the tracks. Take the track 'Slaves' for instance. It starts out as a live acoustic track, and ends up being one of the most haunting and heaviest songs on the album.  This album is very well balanced. Not top heavy, or back loaded which a lot of albums do. The closer 'Man Of Sorrows' finishes the album well by capturing the essence of the rest of the album. 


Overall:  Wolves At The Gate have released an album that is going to be a huge hit.  Solid State's self proclaimed "new breed" of bands are going to make a statement.  They are here to bring some originality to an already overdone genre, and do it with passionate lyrics and mature song writing. This is just the beginning for Wolves At The Gate, expect them to follow up an already outstanding album with an even stronger one. With what this album lacks, it is quickly made up by the passion these guys have for God.




Rating: 9/10


Reviewed by: Tabor Brown


Tracklisting:
1. The Harvest
2. Awaken
3. Morning Star
4. Dead Man
5. In Your Wake
6. Slaves
7. Step Out To The Water
8. Amnesty
9. Safegaurds
10. Through The Night
11. Man Of Sorrows


(Buy Here)