19. April 2025
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Media Review

Wig Wam – Never Say Die

Florian Buechtingby Florian Buechting

Wig Wam - Never Say Die

Wig Wam - Never Say Die
4.1

Rating

 4.1/5

Flyctory.com Pros

  • Glam Rock Party
  • Strong start and some additional good tracks
  • Will be fantastic on stage

Flyctory.com Cons

  • Some songs just don't make to the very top rankings

There is not just Lordi and their Hard Rock Hallelujah – also some other bands who love the harder guitar sounds made it to the European Song Contest. The glam metal band Wig Wam represented Norway in 2005 in Kyiv, Ukraine. They are still active, 16 years later, and released a new album on 22nd January 2021. Here is my view on Never Say Die.

 

Wig Wam – About The Artists

Wig Wam have been founded in 2001 in Halden. The city is located right at the Norwegian-Swedish border, some 120 kms South of Oslo. The band is a quartet, consisting of Glam (Age Sten Nilsen, vocals), Teeny (Trond Holter, guitars), Flash (Bernt Jansen, bass) and Sports (Oystein Andersen, drums). They were quite active live on stage, before they released their debut album 667… The Neighbor Of The Beast in 2004. The most prominent track is a version of I Turn To You, originally performed by Melanie C. Their hit for the ESC was In My Dreams – and due to the continental publicity, they re-released their first album in Europe, adding that track. The revised album title has been Hard To Be A Rock’n’Roller… In Kiev. That version made it to the Top 10 in Norway.

After that initial success, they released their second album, Wig Wamania less than one year later. Again, they made it to the Norwegian Top 10. Regarding the chart placement, their third album, Non Stop Rock’n’Roll (2010) has been their most successful one. Two years after their fourth album Wall Street, Wig Wam announced that they will break up – but they reunited in late 2019 in order to play some festivals in 2020. Never Say Die is thus their first album since nine years.

 

Wig Wam – Never Say Die – Track by Track

The twelve song album lasts 47 minutes.

1. The Second Crusade (Intro)

If you rock, it’s not a comeback, but a crusade… Fine… The first track is a 54 second instrumental intro.

2. Never Say Die

The intro seemlessly connect to the title track.

Light the fire, Keep it alive
Never say die
Walk the wire, you just can’t turn around
One by one we fell apart
A fait of fire in our burning hearts
Light the fire, never say die

That’s powerful rock as I love it. It reminds me of the 1980’s glam metal bands, of my favorite musical Rock of Ages. Great voice and powerful guitar. The crusade started in perfection \m/.

3. Hypnotized

The second full-length track, Hyponotized, has also been released before the album. And it is just a lot of fun. Hard to take a break from headbanging – there is a review to be completed.

4. Shadows Of Eternity

After listening to two single releases at the beginning of the album, I am always curious about listening to the first “new” track. But no need to complain about Shadows Of Enternity. The song is melodic, great vocals, Sporty is hammering on the drums. The devil horns are up in the sky – and I am sure the neighbors are rocking as well when I turn up the volume.

5. Kilimanjaro

The worst thing about the album so far? These guys are made for the stage – and it feels that the selection of summer festivals in 2021 will be very limited again. Bad luck! Though Kilimanjaro feels a bit softer in some parts compared to the three songs before, it comes with a lot of parts which are easy to shout out. Party track.

 

6. Where Does It Hurt

The whole Never Say Die album feels like a time travel back to the 1980’s – but Where Does It Hurt especially has a strong Def Leppard touch  to me. I also love the hard vocals in the verses. Meldodic and fun chorus, that’s Rock’n’Roll.

7. My Kaleidoscope Ark

No matter how powerful the riffs are and the voices are yelling into the mike – any rocker needs to put a ballad on his/her/their album. The hard Norwegian guys shows their emotional strength in My Kaleidoscope Ark. Wig Wam is running into the same situation so many rock bands don’t really like – this track is incredibly good. Definitely one of the highlights of the albums. Headbanging and hugs just belongs together.

8. Dirty Little Secret

After the emotional highlight, ain’t it natural to have a Dirty Little Secret? The song feels dark and dirty indeed. It has a cool sound and will be a nice one on stage or at your next glam metal party – but it is also quite similar to other songs on the album.

9. Call Of The Wild

Call Of The Wild again is driven by the power of the electric guitars. If you are in a glam metal rock mood, these tracks will make your day – ordinary rock and metal lovers might stop dancing at one time.

10. Northbound

It would definitely be unfair to get the idea that the whole album is monotonous. A strong argument against it is the tenth song, Northbound. The four minute song is an instrumental one – and it is definitely a great one. Love to listen to the play of the guitars, which are – again – dominating the sound.

11. Hard Love

I wanna love you but somebody else owns your heart
I wanna touch you but I don’t know where I should start

A bit too much desparation at the beginning of the song – and overall, Hard Love is a slower rocker, which leads to some more variety. The more decent use of the guitars gives a nice concentration on the vocals.

12. Silver Lining

No matter how bad
No matter how sad
There ain’t no cloud
Without a silver lining

The farewell from Never Say Die takes more than six minutes. Another ballad track, which however feels less characteristic than the amazing My Kaleidoscope Ark.

 

Wig Wam – Never Say Die – Spotify

Here is Never Say Die on Spotify:

 

Wig Wam – Never Say Die – My View

Never Say Die is the Wig Wam business card, which nearly forces promoters and festival organizers to book Wig Wam. These boys have been fun in the past – and they will be great on their next tour, whenever they can do it. The album has some great songs, especially at the beginning. On top, there is the outstanding balld My Kaleidoscpoe Ark. Unfortunately, some other songs are weaker – but overall, this is just a rocking good album.

 

Flyctory.com and Norway

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