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Sign Of The Wolf: Sign Of The Wolf
Sign Of The Wolf Album Art

Sign Of The Wolf: Sign Of The Wolf

Melodic Heavy Metal Rock
5.0/5.0

Label
Escape Music
Words: Craig Hartranft
Added: 15.05.2025 | Released: 24.04.2025

Sign Of The Wolf is the project of songwriter and executive producer Bruce Mee who is huge fan of classic hard rock and heavy metal. Specifically, albums like Rainbow's Rising, Black Sabbath's Heaven And Hell and Dio's Holy Diver wherein the common denominator is vocalist Ronnie James Dio. Mee decided "to bring back that gloriously epic and melodic hard rock sound from the early 80s but also featuring the musicians who actually played on those seminal albums or in the bands."

Andrew Freeman - Click For Larger Image

Andrew Freeman

Mee drafted some of the icons from that era: Tony Carey on keyboards, Vinnie Appice on drums, Chuck Wright and Mark Boals on bass, and Doug Aldrich on lead guitar From the present Mee added Fredrik Folkare (Eclipse, Nordic Union) who assisted with song writing and played on rhythm guitar. Andrew Freeman the voice Dio tribute band Last In Line takes the microphone.


With this crew of immense talent, Mee and friends have indeed captured the sound that dominated a decade and more, and still influences the hard rock and metal genres today. No, Sign Of The Wolf does not sound like any of the aforementioned bands, nor does Freeman mimic Ronnie James identically. Actually, that's not really the point. It's the replication of that memorable classic sound. So then, the music is killer: hard rock rhythm and groove dovetailing with the fine edge of melodic metal. Tony Carey's keyboard influence is a pleasure to hear, and Aldrich roars with his terrific guitar solos. Three videos are included with this review, but every song is terrific with other favorites like Rainbow's and Murder At Midnight. This is not nostalgia, but simply great (and iconic) music which still matters to this day.

All in all, for a modern vision of classic Eighties melodic metal rock at the intersection with vocalist Ronnie James Dio (and his various bands), Bruce Mee's Sign Of The Wolf, with its talent musicians, delivers the goods. Easily recommended.



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The Take Away

For a modern vision of classic Eighties melodic metal rock at the intersection with vocalist Ronnie James Dio (and his various bands), Bruce Mee's Sign Of The Wolf, with its talent musicians, delivers the goods. Easily recommended.

Support the artist, click the link below to buy the album at Amazon (US site) in your favorite format.

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