UN SOLEIL NOIRCI

Description

"Wolverine's highly evocative music finds a very relevant means of expression in the short film "A Darkened Sun" and its four-track soundtrack of the same name. "We had been waiting five years for Wolverine to follow up "Machina Viva." In fact, the Swedes made their comeback in 2020 with a musical short film titled "A Darkened Sun," but a contingency overshadowed almost all other events happening at the same time. This is why Wolverine decided to release the film's soundtrack EP in the spring of 2021. This black and white visual treat, divided into four chapters, each corresponding to an EP track, perfectly aligns with the Scandinavians' twilight style. Even if one doesn't grasp its full meaning, the listener will at least enjoy an even more immersive experience with the visual support and scrolling lyrics. Musically, the album treads familiar Wolverine ground with its nocturnal atmospheres, melancholic moods, and emotionally penetrating vocal artistry. Guided by the short film's narrative logic, the album boasts great cohesion, yet this doesn't prevent the Swedes from offering relative diversity in their tracks. While the first two tracks feature a slow rhythm, heavy riffing, and thick layers of keyboards emphasizing a sense of gravity, 'Dead As The Moon' shows a more pop continuity, still melancholic but with an added melodic beauty reminiscent of what Moongarden can produce. It's on the finale that Wolverine injects the most energy into their album with 'Hibernator' and its pure chorus, whereas the trend was rather towards harmonic complexity in 'The Breach' and especially 'Phoenix,' marked by several moments of vitality that bring a pleasant feeling of clarity to an otherwise opaque whole. "A Darkened Sun" puts Wolverine back on the map after half a decade of hibernation with a short format that suits them well. The musicians play with diversity, ranging from progressive tracks to pop ballads, without fatiguing the listener with long minutes of melancholic constancy."