Sea Wolf's 2012 album Old World Romance was one of my favorite releases of that year, but other than the independently released 2014 project Song Spells, No 1: Cedarsmoke, things appear to have been quiet for the band. But behind the scenes they've been anything but. Front man Alex Brown Church actually wrote and recorded an entire album that was scrapped during what appears to have been downtime for the Sea Wolf project. His reason for scrapping it? He frankly realized it wasn't good enough for his high standards, the album wasn't cohesive and he decided to shelve it and start from scratch.
From the ashes of that unreleased album came Through A Dark Wood, a very emotional, personal statement inspired by a breakup he went through while recording that album he scrapped. With hindsight, he feels he was better able to put his feelings into words and song and the end result is the finest Sea Wolf album yet. Church isn't reinventing the wheel here, Sea Wolf's melodic folk/rock sound hasn't gone anywhere and provides great comfort to the heavier lyrical content. Yes, many of the lyrics deal with deeper subject matter, but they're accompanied by beautifully uplifting music, making this far from a maudlin affair. On "Blood Pact" he admits he may not know what is ahead in life, but has no choice but to carry on. "Forever Nevermore" documents struggles communicating in a relationship while on my personal favorite, "Fear Of Failure", Church lays himself bare. Looking ahead at an uncertain future, he implores to himself, "I have to be brave, even though I'm still afraid." It's a staggeringly vulnerable, beautiful song. As is the entirety of Through A Dark Wood. If cohesion was lacking in the album Church discarded, there is no such concern here. A fantastic album from start to finish.
Favorite tracks: "Fear Of Failure", "Forever Nevermore", "Under The Spell Again", "Blood Pact"
Through A Dark Wood was released March 20th, 2020 on Dangerbird Records.
Purchase Through A Dark Wood from the Sea Wolf online store
Purchase Through A Dark Wood from Bullmoose.com
Purchase Through A Dark Wood from Amazon.com
Comments