At the very heart of rock’n’roll must lurk the innate desire for the smell of the greasepaint and the glare of the floodlights: theatrics must surely form the very DNA of a good band. Wolf & Chain are proving themselves to be the most entertaining and adept purveyors of a whomping style of glam excess, and it is thoroughly cathartic and utterly enjoyable.
Their new single, deliciously entitled ‘An Unfortunate Tale of Two Lovers and an Insatiable Taste for Poison’ has all those vital showy ingredients with the added frisson of an on-going tale of drama and romance. This is a band that puts on a show and delivers it through an inherently exciting and thoroughly over the top performance. Singer Jack Cumes is a mesmerising focal point and the accompanying video takes up from the vampyric excess of their previous single ‘A Taste of Blood’ (see my review here) which left us with a cliffhanger as Cumes was kidnapped. Cumes explains:
The video gives insight into the backstory of this tale, how the two characters get mixed up in this madness and become these great opposing forces. It brings the themes from the song and translates them into this dirty, fantastical vampire story. It was really exciting for us to explore other ideas from our collection on ‘Amor Mortal’ in this world and do something grand and atmospheric.
A frenetic pace, slicing guitars and an emo-infused vocal approach with layered harmonies contribute to something fun and energetic – theatrical, almost operatic in its storytelling style, pressing on the brakes for a classical guitar interlude, building up into a crescendo. Fasten your seatbelts and apply make-up.
The track, available here, is on Wolf & Chain’s EP ‘Amor Mortal’ which is out on 29 October 2021 through UNIFIED Music Group – you can pre-order Digital and Vinyl now.
