It’s been a decade since 2012’s ‘Wall Street’ hit the stores and prior to that release the Norwegian Glam Rockers had been remarkably consistent over the previous decade releasing 4 cracking studio and one live album along the way. A hiatus came two years later in 2014 and we thought they were gone. But charging out of the pandemic here they come again for the wonderful ‘Never Say Die’.
If you’ve even heard of Wig Wam all I probably need to say is that this is more of the same – huge choruses, great guitars, wonderful melodies and the kind of Hard Melodic Rock with Metallic touches that will get you moving. If you’ve missed the band up till now then get on board – Wig Wam sound as good as ever and title track ‘Never Say Die’ is as good a place as any to start.
This is a quality album though and has everything thrown in the mix, from the tantalizing intro – ‘The Second Crusade’ hopefully referencing a lengthy second stay to the mainstream ‘Shadows of Eternity’ and the wonderful ‘Where Does it Hurt’ which is a definite high point here! But there’s so much more – like the cool confidence and glower of ‘Dirty Little Secret’, the low key opening and build to ‘Hypnotized’, the guitar wail on instrumental ‘Northbound’, it’s all here! My favourite though might be the one that breaks teh mould – ‘Call of the Wild’ has a different feel to most of the tracks here and it’s somethig that seems to have bloomed in the time out.
Wig Wam is back and that is sure to put a huge smile on many people’s faces!
8.5 / 10
Track Listing: The Second Crusade (Intro, Instrumental) | Never Say Die | Hypnotized | Shadows Of Eternity | Kilimanjaro | Where Does It Hurt | My Kaleidoscope Ark | Dirty Little Secret | Call Of The Wild | Northbound (Instrumental) | Hard Love | Silver Lining