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Dungeon Wolf: Slavery Or Steel
Dungeon Wolf - Slavery Or Steel Music Review

Dungeon Wolf: Slavery Or Steel

Heavy Metal
3.0/5.0

With Dungeon Wolf we're reaching into the deepest, darkest corners of the American heavy metal underground. The Cleveland based band is essentially guitarist and vocalist Deryck Heignum. His resume includes a near 14 year stint with traditional metal band Norselaw and then a brief gig as Stormlurker. If you haven't heard of either band, no worries. I didn't either. Featuring the same crew, Heignum has morphed Stormlurker into Dungeon Wolf, which drops an LP worth of tunes, Slavery Or Steel for traditional metal label, Germany's Iron Shield Records.

Dungeon Wolf Band Photo Click For Larger Image

Dungeon Wolf

I'll try to make this review as quick and painless as possible. As mentioned above, Dungeon Wolf is primarily a vehicle for guitarist and vocalist Deryck Heignum. That's him on the cover as a pseudo Medieval executioner. I put guitarist first in his description simply because he's a talented and exceptional one. His style echoes traditional neoclassical forms, yet provides enough diversity and technicality to please most fret aficionados. As a vocalist, well, I think he needs to pass that torch to someone else. While his guitar licks are impressive, I did not enjoying listening to him sing.

Also, these elements define the character of the songs. It's not that there isn't some variety to Heignum's compositions, but they mostly turn on his guitar execution which means riffs upon riffs, solos upon solos. More than a few songs, like While The Gods Laugh, Lord Of Endless Night, and Dark Child, are simply heavy and steady, nearly doomish, in character, with Heignum's riffs churning and his solos flying. That last song is peppered with solos throughout. Actually, aside from the impressive guitar work, I found the songs to be kind of boring. But that's just me.

That's pretty much everything in a nutshell. To repeat myself, Dungeon Wolf and Slavery Or Steel is primarily a platform for guitarist Deryck Heignum exceptional and skillful fret work, never mind his vocals.

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The Bottom Line

Dungeon Wolf and Slavery Or Steel is primarily a platform for guitarist Deryck Heignum exceptional and skillful fret work, never mind his vocals.

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