Wolfchant is back on the hunt.
Now signed to Hamburg Record and their own label Southern Wolfcult Records, the pack consisting of Lokhi (saturated vocals), Skaahl (guitar, Nothgard, Zodiac Ass), Nortwin (clean vocals, Rebellion), Sertorius (bass, Imperious), Ghust (drums, ex-Nothgard) and Seehb (guitar, Bavaustrian Metalbrothers United, Zodiac Ass) is preparing to release its ninth album, Echoes of a Time Once Past.
The album begins with a gentle melody on the introduction named Arcades of Time, then goes to title track Echoes of a Time Once Past, which slowly transports us, thanks to distant choirs and percussion, to the battlefield where the riffs are already at work, joining Lokhi’s growls and Nortwin‘s clean but vindictive vocals, which respond to and complement each other. The rhythm section keeps up a good pace, guiding us towards Under a Twilight Star, where we find that martial Pagan tone from time to time, reinforced by the alternating vocalists, but the singing choruses create a unifying contrast before the leads of Goddess of Fire take over, reviving the cheerful Folk roots and a catchy groove. The saturated vocals and blazing rhythm section obviously contribute to creating more raw passages, as on Lifeblood, which energizes the march once again and allows us to bang our heads vigorously along with the two vocalists. Keyboards and harmonics allow us to catch our breath for a few moments, but the horde resumes its cruising speed towards Dem Sturme voraus, where the gentle melody of the beginning is quickly overwhelmed by the fury of the musicians. However, the track is one of the most changeable on the album, and it doesn’t hesitate to sound like a ballad from time to time. We are greeted by keyboards on Witchfinder, the next track, but the return of the rhythm section is not long in coming, and it will soon provoke crowd movements or headbanging sessions, while Wild Hunt offers us a touch of melancholy before launching into its own rhythm, retaining the few darker elements that forge its uniqueness. Even the orchestrations are more impressive, still allowing leads to develop at their own pace and finally join the long Shadows of Doom, whose instrumental introduction lasts a while, alternating between epic sounds and more simplistic parts, setting the stage for the vocalists. The song is once again catchy, giving fans something to punch the air to with conviction while the pit surges around them, before the band launches into Echoes from the Past, a much more aggressive track that serves as an excellent final track on the album, but which could also be a perfect finisher for an audience drenched in sweat after an intense set, even reserving an airy break to thank the audience before the reprise and then the final charge.
Wolfchant‘s roots are still present on this new album, which will please long-time fans. Echoes Of A Time Once Past contains a number of very solid tracks that are sure to be popular at upcoming concerts!
80/100
A few questions to Lokhi, singer and founding member of the German Pagan Metal band Wolfchant, about the release of the band’s ninth album, Echoes Of A Time Once Past, by Raven.
Hello and thank you. Can you please introduce yourself for our French audience?
Lokhi: Yes, I’m Lokhi, the singer of German pagan band Wolfchant. Thank you for the interview, I’m very happy to be here!
Me too! I have a tough question to begin: how would you describe Wolfchant’s music without using the words “Folk Metal”, “Pagan Metal” or any other subgenre? I want your own words.
Lokhi: I would say it’s an epic music with a lot of power. So I don’t use the words Pagan, Power Metal and Folk Metal.
That’s perfect. Do you remember how you came up with the name Wolfchant back in time, and how do you still link it to the music you play now?
Lokhi: We live in Lower Bavaria directly close to the national park. The national park includes huge areas for wolves, for bears, and so on, and when we were sitting out, it’s just maybe 2 miles away from the place I was growing up, you can hear these wolves sometimes. The wolf, the chant, the singing, so “the wolf chant” is more or less in a direct connection to our area, Lower Bavaria, and the music. So we decided to call the band Wolfchant.
That’s quite a good story to tell!
Lokhi: Hopefully!
Wolfchant will soon release its ninth album Echoes Of A Time Once Past, how do you feel about it? Do you already have any feedback from your family or producer or whatever?
Lokhi: Yes, as I say very often, I feel old now because it’s more than 20 years now, but we’re still happy that we are still in this game, in this business, and we can play shows. So the feedback from our friends and family was very positive. But it’s basically them saying “OK, the music is good, we like it”. They know us, they know our style, so we get positive feedback for the songs, we already have feedback from online magazines and so on, they also like it, most of them. We are very happy, we feel good and we are proud to play this music around Europe, around the world, and that we have already the chance to make music after more than 20 years.
Nice. That’s very good news for you, and for us, who listen to the band! How would you sum up the identity of the album in only three words?
Lokhi: Only 3 words…
Raven: I love tough questions.
Lokhi: I know it’s very difficult… powerful, epic, and beautiful.
How did the creation process work for the album? And as one of the band’s founding members, did you notice some changes between now and the band’s beginning?
Lokhi: Yes, there was a huge difference, because when we started the band, we made the songs during the rehearsals, so we met every week, 2 times, 3 times in the rehearsal room and created the songs together. So meanwhile we are spread around Germany, so normally one of our guitarists, Seehb or Skaahl starting to produce some riffs, some songs, some sample, then they upload it in a Dropbox so everybody can listen to it, and then the creative process is starting, everybody can tell what he likes and can add his ideas, so the songs are growing and growing… Maybe after few weeks, few months, or in this case, few years, we have an album.
About that, Wolfchant’s sound is of course rooted in Pagan and Folk Metal, but with time you began including some Melodic Death Metal and Power Metal influence. What led you to make your sound evolve this way and which band would you quote as your main influence?
Lokhi: The main influence from everybody: Iron Maiden, Blind Guardian, Manowar. Also Iced Earth, the bands everybody likes. From my side I’m more into Black Metal, Dissection and a lot of the Swedish and Norwegian Black Metal bands, also Rotting Christ, it’s a band I love. So this is uh the reason why we are mixing up the styles. Our Pagan Metal has been a lot influenced by Power Metal, of course, from the beginning to now.
Raven: And Black Metal.
Lokhi: And also Black Metal of course.
Raven: That’s quite interesting because usually it’s more Black Metal which is influenced by Pagan, not the contrary.
Lokhi: You’re right, absolutely. This is what I like about French Black Metal. I like also the French Pagan Metal, so I’m looking forward to the tour with Belore. There are a lot of very, very good bands in France!
What’s your personal favorite song on the album, or maybe the hardest one to achieve?
Lokhi: I think I really like, all the songs of course, because at least they’re on the album and then you have to love it, but my favorite song is Goddess of Fire, I think at the moment.
Raven: Yeah, it’s a nice one. Not my preferred, but we have different tastes
Lokhi: The second one is Lifeblood.
Raven: Yeah, that’s mine! *laughs*
The name of the album Echoes of a Time Once Past is a quite melancholic name, where did you find your inspiration to create music and lyrics?
Lokhi: It’s different from every band member who finds inspiration. For me it’s always nature, going out during a foggy November, a day in the forest, something like that. This is what I really like and where I can find a lot of inspiration, walking through the forest or walking through some park, whatever or around the sea…
Raven: You love nature?
Lokhi: I love nature, yeah. I love when it’s peaceful and quiet.
Raven: For me, it depends. I have 3 cats at home, they are not peaceful nor quite calm.
Lokhi: So you need the area for that. I grew up in the mountains, so of course I’m also into the sea. And also the Northern Sea, when I have to say cold and rough, this is also very nice to sit there and look at the waves and when it’s windy and cold. It’s a good feeling to create some melancholic Pagan Metal songs and lyrics.
Do you think you improved yourself as a musician with this new record?
Lokhi: Yes of course.
It’s the first album you released with your own label, the Southern Wolfcult Records, with the support of Hamburg Records. How’s this partnership going? How did you decide to take a step forward towards independence?
Lokhi: After all the years we was working with labels, so we made the decision to find the full freedom of what we are doing, to make the decision when we want to release an album, when we want to release a video, how it should looks like what we want to do with the promotion with the merchandise, so for us it’s important now to have 100% control about everything we are doing. We know these guys from Hamburg Records since many years because they are running our shop since many years, and the owner Flo (Florian V. Schwarz, ed.) from Pyogenesis, if you know the band, is a good friend and they are doing a really good job so we trust them 100%. And with Oktober Promotion, Niels, we have for sure, the best promotion team you can get. They are working for all the huge players in the business, so we are very happy to have them as partners and as supporters and they are really doing a good job and I like the guys, I like Niels.
Raven: That’s quite a promotion for the shop!
You will soon embark on the Rites of the Blood Moon tour in Europe with Ereb Altor, Skyforger and Belore, visiting 6 countries for 12 shows. How does the band get prepared for this tour? How did you build the setlist to present the new album and please the fan with classics?
Lokhi: Yeah, we’re preparing to drinking a lot of beers and this is very important also for the for the touring and… no to be honest, it’s more or less one thing we’re doing since years, to be on the road to do some tours to play a lot of shows… we like it and the important thing is to be very strict, not to drink too much beer…
Raven: But you’re German!
Lokhi: Yeah, but you have to control it! In the last years we really had some accidents in this case of being too drunk, so we are quite strict, and of course we do a celebration, but at least we want to play good shows to meet the fans and to have fun, of course.
Raven: So drinking with moderation.
Lokhi: Drinking is of course an important point on tour and if you can control it, everything is nice and fine.
The last show of this tour, and I’m pretty impatient for it, is the only French show in the Cernunnos Pagan Fest, which also marks the first Wolfchant concert in France. Have you ever heard of the festival, and what do you expect by finally playing for French fans?
Lokhi: I heard of the Cernunnos Pagan Fest, of course, and we are really looking forward to the show! As you said, it’s our first French show. We already had offers to play in France and we already had contracts to play in France, but one of the festivals a few years ago was canceled due to regulations from the government, whatever… And so we’re really looking forward, because we know that the French fans are really powerful fans. We want to celebrate and we are looking forward to have very very good parties with you all!
So what will come next for Wolfchant? About music, life, anything?
Lokhi: After the release, we play the show, the tour more or less, then we have a lot of festivals and club shows. I think this will take the whole year, and then I think about starting to write some music again. I think 2027 is a good year to start the creative process again.
Raven: After resting a bit. Don’t do too much!
Lokhi: A bit, yeah, during Christmas time again *laughs*
Have you ever heard of the French metal scene? I think so because you are touring with Belore. Are there any bands you know apart from this one and like?
Lokhi: Yes, we had a few shows with French bands like Alcest. I know and I like and of course one of my favorite bands meanwhile is Gojira and I heard of SUP, or I was reading the name a lot of times, but I never came in contact with the music and 3 years ago I was listening to some music and there really was… I was convinced very quickly because it was sounding like old Fear Factory and a mix of Sepultura, Fear Factor and whatever. I like this crossover they are doing and the power they are bringing on stage. I like this music, I was surprised.
And apart from Belore, do you know some French bands at the Cernunnos?
Lokhi: I know a lot of bands, or some bands, but we never played or toured with French bands. So Belore is really the first one we are touring with and it’s 11 shows. But I like the Metal scene in France and it’s quite creative and completely different to the German Teutonic Metal style. So yeah, especially the Black Metal bands with the French language. This is really something unique and something powerful. I really like.
Raven: That’s interesting, because you have some quite good French bands at the Cernunnos Pagan Fest.
Lokhi: Tell me which one you will recommend.
Raven: Stille Volk. It’s an Occitan band. It’s quite interesting.
Lokhi: Ok, we’ll try. It’s the last day for us, and I’m looking forward to enjoy the whole festival as good as I can and to watch bands I have never seen before. But I heard the name.
Talking about that, are there any bands you would love to play with? I let you create your dream poster with Wolfchant headlining and three other bands, even unrealistic answers are accepted.
Lokhi: Yeah, unrealistic is the best, then I will choose Iron Maiden, Metallica, and of course Rammstein.
I agree! Last and funny question: which dish would you compare Wolfchant’ music with?
Lokhi: Medium rare bloody steak *laughs*
Raven: For a wolf!
Lokhi: Yes *laughs*
That was the last question for me, so thank you very much for your time and your music, last words are yours!
Lokhi: Thank you very much for the interview! Please listen to our new album. I think it’s worth it. Maybe you’ll like it, and I hope to see a lot of you at the Cernunnos Pagan Festival. We’re really looking forward to playing this show. See you in 4 weeks!