WRAITH – Revelation (Album Review)

Wraith are a band that have been around a while. Seems they started in the late 1980’s and the only remaining original member is Gregg Russell who also has played bass with UK glam band Tigertailz.

From investigations on the internet, they were very fancied as “the band to watch” and had the backing of Lemmy and Pete Way from UFO, who is still supporting them as he features on this new album called Revelation, having helped in writing some of the songs. There is also backing vocals on tracks by Steevie Jaimz (also Tigertailz) and Tony Mills (Shy and TNT), adding to the fan list.

On first listen, or at least from first impression given by the opening track “Lifelines”, the sound is sleazy-style Motley Crue. It starts with the sound of a fast car and is a very solid powerful start to the album. In continuing through the album, that influence is still strong along with bands like Ratt (the singer Ryan Coggin was up for the job with them at one point) and Dokken. With more time other influences come to the fore, including. at times, hints of some power metal bands, along with The Scorpions and solo Michael Schenker, which is no surprise as guitarist Dieter Schanzer in one interview remarked that he is a massive fan of the “Mad Axeman” and any similarities are meant! Got to love his honesty! In fact, one of the most pleasing aspects of the album is not only how good and tight the band are, but the quality of the guitar solos. Two solos in particular stood out for me. Firstly, the solo on “Dream Stealer”, a song that could easily be on a horror movie soundtrack (not the only reason for thinking of Dokken, as the title has a ring of Nightmare On Elm Street Part 3 about it) and then the wonderful solo on “Leaving Me Again”, which (although I am not a big fan of the song itself), is worth the entrance fee alone.

Not being a big fan of the sleaze style glam rock, another thing that raises Revelation into better territory is that it doesn’t pander to the sexist misogynistic nonsense that puts some of us off the genre. Pleasingly, Wraith have more interesting subject matter on the album in places, including politics and the mind of a killer or hitman. The latter is spread over 2 songs – “Revelation” (a spoken word piece) and “Humanhater” (a heavier track that has a classic Judas Priest style chorus and is probably my personal favourite track on the album). The more political song is “Invasion”, which is about invasion of privacy by government and the “death of liberty”. There is a news reader giving out a report where, in amongst it, he mentions Edward Snowden.

The rest of the band also have pedigree, comprising of Kim Nielsen from the band Phantom Blue on bass and Jay Graham (who has worked with Iommi) on drums.

This is a very good album indeed for those who love glam and sleaze, but also has enough to perhaps please those who have more of a preference for classic hard rock and a touch of old school metal. As a person who prefers the latter, I actually quite enjoyed it with some of the songs hitting a note with me. Maybe after all these years, Wraith are going to be the band that are more than “the one to watch”.

Buy: Revelation