“Hope you find help you need so your soul can change.”
Over the past two or so years, Bad Wolves have been undergoing something of a rebrand. A much-needed one, mind you, as their former lead vocalist Tommy Vext seems to always be embroiled in some controversy or another. Be it through his questionable views, or his insistence on publicising every petty meltdown he has undergone since his exodus from the group in 2021, it’s beyond understandable that Bad Wolves have made a concerted effort to distance themselves from him, and build anew. It’s lucky, too, that the band were so quick and effective to find a worthy successor, for as much as Vext’s constant ruination of his own image was frustrating to witness, he had a hell of a voice.
That successor came in the form of Daniel “DL” Laskiewicz, former guitarist/songwriter for The Acacia Strain, of all people. It was an announcement that came as quite the surprise to people much like myself. Even with Laskiewicz’s stint in LGND, it seemed quite the leap, but it was one that more than paid off. Their first effort with Laskiewicz, 2021’s Dear Monsters, was one of that year’s utmost sleeper hits for me. Chock full of wonderfully infectious melodies, only bolstered by the band’s uniquely effective combination of radio-friendly rock tendencies, with hyper-aggressive djent and metalcore influence. It truly felt like an album that was hard-wired to work specifically for someone like me – a guy who grew up mostly around the post-grunge era of radio rock, and getting into more progressive-leaning stuff later down the line.
Dear Monsters was far from a perfect album, but it signalled a changing of tides for Bad Wolves. It felt like the band had finally struck that tasteful balance of blistering heaviness and radio cheese in a way that I hadn’t quite heard from a band of their calibre before, and for its flaws it was executed incredibly well (and managed to land a spot on our top 25 albums of that year). 2023 now sees their second effort with Laskiewicz, and fourth overall, in Die About It, a record that seeks to refine the formula of Dear Monsters, whilst injecting new and interesting additions along the way.
The first clear sign of where Die About It is headed is just how heavy this thing gets from its earliest moments. After a brief introductory track, lead single “Bad Friend” begins Die About It with a monstrously heavy riff from lead guitarist Doc Coyle, alongside some tastefully dirty vocal flourishes from Laskiewicz. The song soon transitions into their bands usual radio-friendly flare, but it’s a hell of a cold open even in spite of that. Typically infectious vocal melodies enter the fold, culminating in the first of many planet-sized choruses across the album. Seldom do bands that implement this style of triumphant, cheesy and balls-to-the-wall radio chorus execute them quite as well as Bad Wolves do on Die About It, and they aren’t afraid to show that hand from the album’s very opening minutes, as that’s a theme that does not die out across its runtime.
We’re soon treated with one of the album’s new tricks in Laskiewicz’s slick rapped vocal style, first shown here on third cut, recent single and title track “Die About It”. Perhaps Bad Wolves’ truest ‘proof of concept’ song to date, “Die About It” is more than worthy of the title track moniker, as it demonstrates everything the band does well in spades. Varied vocal delivery, ranging from the aforementioned rapped vocals, to some truly disgusting growls, all that way to the band’s typical penchant for stadium-screaming choruses. It helps, too, that “Die About It” contains one of the strongest and most outwardly catchy hooks of the band’s career. Furthermore, Laskiewicz’s background as a former member of The Acacia Strain shines through here too, as the screams and growls on display here are by far the heaviest he has put to record on a Bad Wolves song yet. All told, “Die About It” is an impressive spread of everything that makes this band great, and perhaps would act as an appropriate litmus test to see if this truly marmite band may or may not be for you, as they pack a dense arrangement of all they’re about in this tight three-minute package.
We see the band venture away from overt aggression, and more into the realm of melancholy across the album’s next few cuts. That’s not to say these track don’t have fierce elements – almost all of the hilariously down-tuned riffs across Die About It are noteworthy in either heaviness or primal groove, but the atmosphere around the space those riffs occupy is a tad less full-force. “Hungry For Life” ventures the furthest away from the outwardly heavy shell, as a heartfelt hard rock ballad exploring themes of coming to terms with your own mortality and ageing. As the track explodes into its barnburner chorus, replete with the level of strength in its vocal melodies that one would come to expect by this point, all the while still managing to maintain an impressive amount of impact.
Toward the album’s midpoint, we see Bad Wolves explore their more energetic side again, starting with “NDA”, which provides some of the highest contrast seen on the album yet. Largely a melodic, yet incredibly pacey number, in the track’s closing minute we are met with an absolutely sublime saxophone solo that caught me wholly off-guard the first time I heard it. This gorgeous melodicism is quickly juxtaposed by “Move On”, however, which almost certainly stands as Die About It’s most outwardly heavy track. Perhaps the album’s sonic equivalent to “On The Case” from Dear Monsters, ferocious screams and djenty guitar work swiftly take the lead and carry the track from its start to its end. A typically catchy chorus breaks up the track’s ballistic verses, but the energy in maintained throughout.
Moving to the back half of the record, we’re greeted with a number of different angles to the Bad Wolves sound. “Masquerade” is an incredibly strong implementation of the band’s typical heavied-up radio banger formula, but contains a noteworthy hint of tech-metal in its main guitar riff that injects an undeniable groove into the song from its opening moments. Further containing yet another one of the band’s greatest choruses to date, “Masquerade” is a demonstration that Bad Wolves are just as strong and comfortable as ever within the confines of their usual, as they are breaking those conventions.
“It’s You (2 Months)” is certainly the album’s most relatively radio-friendly track, harbouring a more outwardly poppy structure and sonic palette, but somehow sticks the landing, too. The way in which Laskiewicz’s vocals interplay with featured vocalist KILLBOY feels particularly notable, as his brisk and husky vocal tone combined with her more soft delivery feels particularly well executed. Evoking a sense similar to A Day To Remember’s iconic “If It Means A Lot To You”, though perhaps within a more outwardly radio-centric context, “It’s You (2 Months)” is a radio ballad through and through, but it’s one that’s so incredibly well-crafted and infectious that I can’t help but laud it.
The album’s final stretch in “Turn It Down” and “Set You On Fire” keeps pace effectively, with the former of the two more sitting within a space similar to “NDA” as a pacey but melody-centric cut, sticking the landing on yet another fantastic chorus. John Boecklin’s drum work feels particularly notable here, too, with the track’s bridge containing some of the tightest drumming on all of Die About It, as well as preluding a killer guitar solo. The latter of the two songs in “Set You On Fire” closes out Die About It well, with a track that crescendoes from a stripped back radio-pop banger to a typically explosive and infectious radio rock banger. More great pace-keeping drum work from Boecklin makes an appearance here, as the track ducks and weaves between spacious passages to allow for the vocals to breathe; and dense, double kick and groove-led compositions in the track’s chorus and bridge.
Whilst it’s certainly true that Bad Wolves are something of a marmite band – you’re either with the sound or you’re not – there is almost no arguing that Die About It is their finest work to date. Replete with infectious vocal melodies, explosive riffs and fantastic percussion throughout, Bad Wolves prove here more than ever that they’re a force to be reckoned with in their space. Functionally acting as djent’s answer to Nickelback, it’s understandable if their sound doesn’t quite do it for you – or if the cheese outright turns you off – but something about Bad Wolves’ sound here on Die About It scratches a particular itch that I have yet to be satisfied from any other group.
8/10
Die About It is due out this Friday, November 3rd via Better Noise Music, and you can find pre-orders for the record here.