Glorious Wolf (great name…..) is a project by Dutch multi-instrumentalist Ruud Dielen, who does an excellent job of doing what his countryman Arjen Lucassen does – superb expansive symphonic progressive rock/metal.
My thanks to Ruud for sending me a copy of the CD and also to Anne-Claire at Bad Dog Promotions for arranging that.
The info sheet which Ruud included says he has a love for ‘70s symphonic and progressive rock such as Pink Floyd, camel, Yes, Rush, King Crimson etc. He certainly channels that passion here on Mysterious Traveler working in all those influences throughout an album which I’d say leans more towards symphonic prog metal than prog rock yet brings in lots of lush good old fashioned organ swells, mellotron and synths to give it that ‘70s feel.
Ruud’s no slouch on the guitar either. As well as handling all instrumentation bar the drums his guitar work is sublime. Kike Paglia hits the skins with the vocals shared by Frank Van Der Borg and Celia Van Onna, who has a nice ethereal touch.
We have seven tracks. Three with vocals and four instrumentals. And the superb artwork of the cover and CD booklet is certainly something to behold.
Repentance kicks it off. This reminded me of Uriah Heep circa Wonderworld/Sweet Freedom. A peeling lick, chunky riffage going on. A solo with if I hear correctly has a bit of vintage wah-wah pedal going on. The organ swirls away nicely too with the smokey vocals adding to the atmosphere. Have a listen:
Slow Down goes a bit funky and bluesy. Nicely measured repeating chilled out riff, driving melodic bass line, solid drumming and superb various keyboards going on. Oh – and more of Ruud’s sublime guitar. Excellent instrumental.
The True Story gives Celia opportunity to weigh in with her hauntingly ethereal vocals over a brooding eight minutes or so of symphonic proggy goodness.
Then we have three instrumentals. Howling at the Moon hits hard over a succinct four minutes. Mysterious Traveler more or a sonic soundscape meandering in to Pink Floyd territory and then Battlefield heavies things back up again with some jazzy (!) elements amongst the driving guitar and masses of keys.
Beautifully Broken closes out a fine album in fine style bringing back in Celia’s vocals over the slightly restrained atmospherics of the first part before the second part of the track develops in to an instrumental passage featuring Ruud letting rip over his solo.
All in all a very, very fine album indeed. If you’re in to your symphonic prog/metal with that retro feel then Glorious Wolf’s Mysterious Traveler is for you. I like it plenty. And my thanks again to Ruud and Carol-Anne for getting it to me.
Available from the Glorious Wolf Bandcamp page:
https://gloriouswolf.bandcamp.com/album/mysterious-traveler