��First released on vinyl through the Finnish label Svart Records lasy year, the debut album from this Portland, Oregon based retro-psych/metal outfit is now available on limited-edition CD thanks to the British imprint AT War With False Noise. This new band definitely stands out like a sore thumb on this week's new arrivals list, delivering a sound on Wulfram that is a direct throwback to 70's era hard rock and proto-metal, lapping at the well of bands like Uriah Heep, Captain Beyond, Black Sabbath, Bang, Blue Oyster Cult, Deep Purple and Pentagram. There's tons of stuff like that out there that I would normally pass right over, but the fact that Al from At War got behind this band gave me pause, and I'm glad I checked it out - these guys (and girl) don't just do a facsimile of that vintage proto-metal sound that has become popular in recent years, but twist that sound a bit by referencing some other cool influences that includes early British heavy metal and the creepier fringes of classic Italian prog rock, a combination of sounds that definitely works for me.

�� On Wulfram, Fellwoods blend together rocking fuzz-drenched riffs and soaring guitar solos, flights of dark blacklight fantasy, and some big bluesy riffs that sometimes take these songs into heavy, Sabbathy territory. But there's also a couple of moments of ripping, galloping power that hint at a love for classic New Wave of British Heavy Metal, and you can definitely hear the influence of early Judas Priest on more than a few of the songs included on this album. That killer creepy progginess seeps through on several tracks as well, the band slipping into some complex riffery and strange atmospheric instrumentation, dark sonic shadows drifting out of clouds of mellotron and vibraphone, visions of dark forest mysticism rising like smoke from the band's bouts of dark epic hard rock, bloozy riffs giving way to slower, more Sabbathian waves of heaviness, the album's production echoing that space spacious recording style that marked many of the original classic albums from the era that Fellwoods works to evoke. The more atmospheric, soundtracky tracks that show up on the album ("Eclipse", "It Would Come To Pass", "House Meat") offer up short interludes of eerie piano, tolling bells and nocturnal wilderness sounds with some of that creepy Goblin-esque synthesizer music, and in it's heaviest moments, the band busts out some wicked driving metal on songs like "Un Vultur" that whip out a classic Deep Purple vibe. And the vocals do their part to add to Wulfram's dark mystical vibe, as front-man Adam Burke belts out the mysterious lyrics in a high wailing voice that sounds pretty goddamn fantastic, and fits perfectly with Fellwood's alternate vision of classic heavy prog and psychedelic rock. Obviously, fans of bands like Graveyard, Witchcraft and that whole retro occult proto-doom revival are especially going to groove on this band's music, but you should also check 'em out if you're into any of the darker, more Goblin-influenced psychedelic blues bands that I tend to rave about here at C-Blast, as well...

�� Limited to five hundred copies, and features some fantatsic cover art from band member Burke.