Whilst not being overly familiar with Wolverine I had heard a track or two from them before including one (Liar On The Mount)  that sampled George Bush speeches! 

It’s taken them a decade to finish the new album, Anomalies, so these Swedes are not the quickest workers. They are however clearly talented musicians and there is a lot to like about their take on prog/metal but somewhere it’s just missing that extra something. 

You won’t see a single review that doesn’t mention the word ‘Katatonia’ and there is a very, very good reason for that. There are times when you could wonder if they were the same band. 

I have the same issue with the vocals of Jonas Renske from Katatonia as I do here in that there is only so much yearning melancholy you can take before it gets a little monotonous. 

Some tracks break away from the formula; Circuits adds some brass to the mix and Automaton is a lovely piano ballad. Nightfall is probably my favourite of the prog/metal tracks with a bit more drive behind the drums and a catchy chorus. 

So, there you have it, if you enjoy the music of latter day Katatonia then you will undoubtably enjoy Wolverine.

 It’s been a really quiet start to the year in terms of new music so I’m actually going to start 2026 with a part review.

The original Smoke & Mirrors from The Eden House was released in 2009. A beguiling confection of lush, sensual, string laden goth with a cast list to die for – Tony Pettitt, Nod and Peter Wright, Peter Yates (all Fields of the Nephilim), Simon Rippin (The Nefilim), Julianne Regan (All About Eve), Evi Vine, Monica Richards (Faith and the Muse) …

Now we get Smoke & Mirrors + Other Ghosts which extends the original album with six bonus tracks which is what I will be looking at.

Freakshow features the vocal talents of Candia McKormack (Inkubus Sukkubus) who didn’t appear on the album. A song very similar in style to To Believe in Something which is probably why it didn’t make the cut

Burn is a slower, swirling track with Amandine Ferrari doing a very good Kate Bush impression on the earlier part of the song. 

Maelstrom is a jaunty little instrumental lasting all of two minutes again with that instantly recognisable bass guitar.  

Half-Light with Evi Vine is the track that most easily could have slotted onto the album but feels unfinished and the abrupt fade out at the end sort of confirms that.

Killer is the most upbeat of the bonus tracks with another great vocal from Amandine Ferrari but it was correctly not included in the final track listing

To Believe in Something was the only track on the album to feature Monica Richards and here we get the Redshifted version which was released as a digital only single. It sounds like a demo of what was finally included on the album. A bit heavier, a bit less refined and with that throbbing Nephilim style bass of Tony Pettitt pushed more to the fore. 

Compared to some expanded albums where they are padded out with poorly recorded demos or superfluous live tracks, I think this is a worthwhile addition to the collection