22. April 2025
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Written by Wolves – The Lighthouse

Florian Buechtingby Florian Buechting

Written by Wolves - The Lighthouse

Written by Wolves - The Lighthouse
3.7

Rating

 3.7/5

Flyctory.com Pros

  • Good modern rock album
  • Rather versatile from hard rock to ballads

Flyctory.com Cons

  • Just three (full length) songs

I rarely run into music from New Zealand. The more I was delighted to receive the promo of the album Give ‘Em Hell from the land of the All Blacks and Kiwis. The modern rock release has been released on 26th July 2024.

 

Written by Wolves – About The Artists

Written by Wolves have been formed in 2014 in Auckland. In 2015, they had their first single releases. In 2019, they released the album Secrets, which later also has been released in an instrumental version. In 2021, they released the charity EP The Collab Project. They already released seven songs of the album as singles. Written by Wolves are Michael Murphy (vocals), Davie Wong (bass), Bharador Borhani (guitar) and Karl Woodhams (drums). The Lighthouse is the band’s sophomore release.

 

Written by Wolves – The Lighthouse – Track by Track

The thirteen track album lasts 45 minutes.

01. Adrift

The album starts with this 33 second opener.

02. Give ‘Em Hell

The album really kicks off with Given ‘Em Hell. The song is a rather dark mixture of electronic elements, guitar riffs and Michael Murphy’s intense vocal performance. Especially the chorus leaves a mark in this listen.

Take me to your leader
Let them see our scars
You call yourselves believers
But you’re just in the dark
Like everyone of us
And this is poisonous
Do you wanna break their spell
Let’s go give em hell

03. Misery

Misery opens with choir-alike vocal part, which is repeatedly stating We can’t just be made for misery. This element is popping up in the song again in several parts and defines the most catching element of it. Nice one, even though it feels rather close to Give ‘Em Hell

04. Dark Places

This track is an interlude with industrial sounds, which lead into the opening of Burn. And it is just eight second.

05. Burn

The transition from Dark Places to Burn is fluent. The industrial sounds fade and the stanzas of the song are surprisingly fine and gentle. The more, the heavy marching industrial sounds later in the track are contrasting.

06. Please, Just Breathe

This song has somewhat been the title track, which has gathered the seven songs already released in an EP. The band is rather brave and gentle. In the context of the album especially, the song feels like a power ballad with a fine melancholic touch.

07. Write The Ending

The chorus of the seventh track is a great sing-a-long, while the hard rocking guitars rather pop up in the instrumental part. This could turn this song into a nice song for future Written by Wolves concerts.

08. A Light In The Darkness

With A Light In The Darkness, the album presents another interlude track. This time, it is significantly longer (54 seconds). A nice atmospheric and dramatic listen, but also another new one, which is not a really full song.

09. Goddess

Goddess starts slow and rather quiet with distorted vocals, before Written by Wolves release their rock powers. A very dramatic plot. The drum computer-alike drumming is a bit too present in my point of view, though.

Feel your chest rise
You’re all I desire
You’re like a goddess in disguise
I’m drowning slowly in your eyes
It’s like you kill me by design
You’re all I desire

10. The Lighthouse

The title track of the album is the tenth listen of the album. Here, the New Zealanders present a die-hard ballad and show themselves from the emotional side. Especially after listening to Goddess before, it is hard to believe that it is in fact the same band.

11. Take Me Home

Oh yeah, I would to be taken home to Auckland by the band as well. I have never visited their country before. I need to get home is the key phrase of the song, even though this statement only pops up (in different variations) in the stanzas only. One of the most atmospheric listens of the album.

12. Memory

One of the new songs of The Lighthouse is Memory. It presents a sound which is quite in line with the remaining album, but has a rather brave and gentle sound. It is making quite intense use of electronic elements as well.

13. Altar

The album closes with Altar. I won’t kneel at your altar, I’m not your soldier, it’s over is the clear message of the chorus. The song is not that rocking and therefor focuses on pop-alike melodies.

 

Written by Wolves – The Lighthouse – Spotify

Here is the album on Spotify:

 

Written by Wolves – The Lighthouse – My View

I like The Lighthouse. However, if you exclude the three intro and interlude tracks, you also just get three previously unreleased songs. That’s a bit too thin, even for a sophomore album. If you don’t know the band yet, you get ten new songs and some additional tracks and a much better value for money. Bad luck.

Favorite Song: Give ‘Em Hell

 

 

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