GREY WOLVES appreciation thread

[cantle]

I'd agree with you to some extent- especially on the former. I still liked it but if this is to be the final Grey Wolves album they certainly didn't end on the bang I'd have hoped for....

[Andrew McIntosh]

It's that Salford Electronics stuff that's gone straight to boogie wonderland.

I can't blame people for getting softer as they get older. The best Grey Wolves material was time and place stuff that still manages to get that particular feeling across. But however possible it might be it's not always desirable for artists to maintain the kind of rage they had when they were in the twenties or thirties. There's something phoney about that.

So I'm not saying "Exit Strategy" should have been just like their earlier material. Probably not even desirable. It's just that, as an album in it's own right, it just isn't that special.

[Warfare Noise]

Anyone else find "Exit Strategy" over produced and underwhelming?

Still waiting on my copy (along with GO) from Tesco USA but samples have me concerned.

Still standing by my above post: "For my tastes, a bad GW albums is still going to be more interesting than the majority of other new albums released this year." until such time that I receive it and am proved otherwise

[Zeno Marx]

Not nearly the fan of The Grey Wolves as some of you are here, but after a single (and at times distracted) listen, I liked it.  Even the techno track, "Seizure", is decent enough.  Best track seemed to be "Flatline".  I liked like last year's Assassin quite a bit, if that gives any context to my perspective.

[zd313]

I still havent peeped EXIT STRATEGY; but been jamming a few of the early tapes a lot (CHAOS OV CREATION, JUDGEMENT, LEGION OF HELL, RED TERROR BLACK TERROR, ATROCITY EXHIBITION) as well as AGE OF DISSENT, CATHOLIC PRIESTS (new mastering does sound great) and BLOOD AND SAND. Need to revisit PUNISHMENT..... i love when they fuck w janky/cheap rhythms, and their "dark ambient" stuff is perfect cause it sounds so raw and crude. Both LEGION OF HELL and BLOOD AND SAND getting spun the most.

[Kayandah]

Listened to Exit Strategy a fair number of times now and agree on a few things:

This is not the farewell album you'd expect from such a legendary act
Production is too clean, one track even sounds like propergol

Ultimately it brings to mind Emperor whose last studio album was effectively a solo Ihsahn album but released under the Emperor name. If Exit Strategy had been released under Salford Electronics or another name it wouldn't be such an issue, but when you carry the Grey Wolves name, expectations are higher and ultimately this disappoints.

[HongKongGoolagong]

Exit Strategy doesn't sound like the Grey Wolves as we knew them at all but it's pretty enjoyable music/electronics to my ears. Division was fifteen years ago now and that felt like the album they'd never finish - no-one really expected another after that, and this possibly pseudo-GW album is just a bizarre posthumous bonus. The statement on the sleeve about what the Propergol dude did is amusing - just about everything.

I also enjoyed the Salford Electronics album on Tesco - much more downbeat than this new GW album, closest thing in my collection I could compare it to is Band of Pain.

[re:evolution]

It's that Salford Electronics stuff that's gone straight to boogie wonderland.

Speaking of 'dance-floor beats', this is a complete oddity in The Grey Wolves discography (from 1990) which I was unaware of until today.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=adomhkezb70

[Andrew McIntosh]

Hm, that's almost listenable for me - there's a nice lo-fi, scummy quality about that I dig. Industrialists are always tempted to join everyone else in the world on the dance floor, and it's usually better when they resists, but I'll give that one a few points.

[NaturalOrthodoxy]

It's that Salford Electronics stuff that's gone straight to boogie wonderland.

Speaking of 'dance-floor beats', this is a complete oddity in The Grey Wolves discography (from 1990) which I was unaware of until today.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=adomhkezb70

Sounds like a boss fight theme from an N64 platformer game, I dig it

[pelle]

Mixed feelings about this release. Kind cool in it's own way and sounds great on vinyl but this is far away from what I generally like about GW. I'm good as long as I have 'Catholic Priests...' though. Hope there will be a vinyl edition of the remastered CD that just came out.

[theworldisawarfilm]

 Dug up this thread to express my gratitude for the OP's  words which echo my own deep appreciation for the Grey Wolves very closely. One of the first artists that I truly fell in love with when I first started listening to Industrial music. In my mind, one of the few groups to carry what I would consider a "true," "pure" "Industrial" ethos, aesthetic and sound and have maintained it with great consistency over many years. Cassette material from the 1980's is especially cherished by me for the very warm, dark, claustrophobic and more "ambient" approach. Exemplified on tracks like 'Suite Mentalle' or 'Rune Filled Eyes' on The Atrocity Exhibition. Relaxing, but so utterly full of tension. Absolutely perfect in my mind, like demented Tangerine Dream evoking dreary images of Thatcher's England. Huge inspiration to me in so many ways.
Have enjoyed basically all of their output and thought Exit Strategy was pretty good, but certainly not the farewell I'd like from such an inspiring group. Grey Wolves forever!

[Lazrs3]

I missed the chance to see them in Birmingham years ago and regret it as I have been slowly getting stuff here and there where I can. I think they may have played with Con-Dom, Shift and Control at the time. Couldn't go due to transport..

[Lazrs3]

I scored about 8 Grey Wolves Cdrs this payday that really boosted my collection massiveley. They are from their Industrial Heritage label, that lead to me scoring some other bits that I am waiting on. Got a rip of No New Jerusalem which is the rawest I have heard and found a blog with a ton of Opera for Infantry stuff.Recent buys a few months prior to this were Blood and Sand and the split lp and a cd with Con-Dom Many Are Called But Few Will Get Up along with Waging War Against You CD. Any experiences with them live, what were they like?

[Into_The_Void]

I´m secretly having the wet dream somebody (VOD?) releases a box with most of the tape releases and a proper booklet. And an appropriate LP version of "Division".