Wolverine – Anomalies
Wolverine – Anomalies
Music Theories Recordings
Release Date: 06/02/2026
Review by Jon Deaux
7.5/10
“We’re a hopeless case, I think!” says a laughing Stefan Zell, as if the truth has just now dawned on him-the pace at which the band has been wasting their time has been slower even than the Swedish sunrise.
But a decade is an eternity in the world of progressive metal, plenty of time for one, two, or even three personal reinventions in the Opeth orbit, five albums of Steve Wilson’s introspective consideration of his personal record collection, or seven hundred minutes of Dream Theater lyrics obsessively devoted to the glory of Dream Theater.
All along, Wolverine have been the weak spot in Swedish prog metal – taking in the temperature, soaking up the pain, cataloging all the fools who mistake complexity for integrity. While others erected temples in honour of intellect, Wolverine poked crumpled margins in the margins of its own diary.
The result is an impulse that has fully flowered into something of stature on “Anomalies”.
“It’s not trying to be dark; it’s just dark, like winter mornings are when you’re old enough to realize the sun’s not showing up to save you.”
There is no angst-struck teenager right here. Nor is there “screamed therapy,” which has been substituted for a good or affectionate attitude toward despair—the type that is constructed after learning for several years that it is not, in fact, a guest that will be departing anytime soon.
What is certain in the first few minutes of “Anomalies” is that Wolverine have no time for masquerade. The guitars creep through like timid fingers, never yelling but always hinting. Losbjer beats the kit as if he knows the secret of where greatness lies. The bass lines of Thomas Jansson are repressed to the very back with the sneaking confidence of a man who understands the simple strength of space.
Particular notice must be taken that the guitars of Jonas Jonsson never boil over into absurdity they just simmer nicely.
Per Henriksson’s keyboards crop up now and again, as tasteful decoration with more ambiance than ornamentation is what’s called for. Less symphonic sprawl or fantasy playgrounds; just texture: the absence of air in the spaces of thought.
Stefan’s voice has always been the pulse of Wolverine, and that gives the reason why it’s the best release that Zell has come up with in a long time because it’s the least desperate of all his releases so far.
There was a time, when Stefan Zell’s voice first rose to sing, that sounded like the voice of a man pleading his case before a hostile court of law. Not anymore. Now, his voice is now like a wine that has been left in the cellar past its peak-he’s richer, more complex, with the taint of compromise hinting on the surface. It’s there in the cracks-and here’s the beauty of it: Zell has the voice of a man who’s not arguing with his mirrors anymore. With ‘My Solitary Foe’ Zell makes the shift from bashing the self to smirking at it, and that’s the most deadly position of all.
His pain so economy, so economy that his impassiveness is itself a blade turned. He does not emit but explains, with a voice gone beyond self-pity and reached at self-knowledge. In ‘Nightfall’ he shows his capacity for allowing the power of silence to be woven into a piece. He is like
There’s something queer about this performance, and not in the sense of sexuality, but in terms of sensibility. Zell sings like someone in touch with the fact that one’s sense of identity is something that’s worked out over the years, not broadcast from the rooftops.
‘Circuits’ quivers nervous anxiety, likely the track most moved upon the album. It’s about as close as you can get to “motion for motion’s sake.” It’s living in the modern world to the letter, expressed
‘This World And All Its Dazzling Lights’ – There’s a dark romantic vibe in the song, as embodied by Wolverine’s character; it is one full of temptation for all those things which will eventually fail you but are really attractive in nature.
‘Automaton’ teases with iron fury, then reins it in on a leash, as if the fury had become old to its own sensation.
‘A Perfect Alignment’ is an instance of where one stops the fight with their destiny to negotiate the conditions.’ Perfect Alignment is the translation of this meaning.
‘Losing Game’ is passingly brutal-a thesis statement about this album that’s cognizant of its failure but doesn’t frame it that way, which of course makes it even sadder.
‘Scarlet Tide’ is how this album concludes, like the tide going out-not a big ending, but just an after. The sound of being alive when there’s nothing left of all the emotions.
What’s so quietly amazing about this album “Anomalies”, is its refusal to mythologize the homecoming. Zell mentions age, sobriety, and perspective, doesn’t frame them as points to be noted, just facts.
This has got to be one of those weird crossovers and weird releases from a group which obviously stopped caring about momentum, relevance, or if anyone in 2026 will care about this kind of Swedish prog metal.
They recorded because they had to, because a certain sort of never quite satisfactory fulfilment drove them to take so bloody long, and apparently Ed van Zijl at Music Theories Recordings cared enough to take them on. They sound like five people who were here because they wanted to be, not because of some chore it was that other people paid to make happen. It’s 2026, which makes this attitude approaching obscene.
What has been wrought here, is something that’s plainly, gladly definably unfashionable, earnest, and utterly gloriously bashed-about in terms of its textural feel. It’s very far from a listener who’d come to expect this prog metal primped, gallant, or stuffed to overflowing like a crazed Christmas ornament. On the other hand, it is very much so for each of us listening, who have enjoyed this music but abominated its hubris, its stupidity, its pointlessness, and its very obvious hollowness.
For anyone whose suffering in this kind of music was meant to lead them into adulthood, coming out, burning out, sobriety, or just to come to the simple fact, waking up slightly disillusioned with the pain they themselves were suffering.
Where Wolverine may stake a claim to ‘be a hopeless case’,— “Anomalies” comes off as if the band was comprised of people who just were no longer mucking about, blurring the boundaries between hope and noise—in which they’ve found the perfect middle ground to deliver more than a comeback album, and honestly, just an album that knows exactly what it wants to be. About which they won’t-don’t apologize for the simple fact that it’s lasted long enough to say so, anyway! The hopeless kind can occasionally deliver great art. Just don’t expect the next one before 2035.
Wolverine didn’t return to reclaim a hold on the titles, but they were forced to return for the mere fact of the songs refusing to pipe down. Which shines through in every note of deliberate tempo shifts and refusals to offer easy solutions in the lyrics.
For fans of: elegant despair, Swedish emotional devastation, taking ten years to do anything.
TRACKLISTING:
01. A Sudden Demise
02. My Solitary Foe
03. Circuits
04. Nightfall
05. This World And All Its Dazzling Lights
06. Automaton
07. A Perfect Alignment
08. Losing Game
09. Scarlet Tide
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