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Sign of the Wolf
Our better-late-than-never department presents you with the self-titled album of the studio project called Sign of the Wolf, released earlier this year. The project lists several members of the extended Purple family in their ranks: Doug Aldrich and Steve Morris on guitars, Tony Carey on keyboards, and Vinny Appice on drums. The lineup also includes Andrew Freeman (Last in Line) singing, Fredrik Folkare (Unleashed/Eclipse) on guitar, Josh Devine (One Direction/Lavera/Turkish Delight) and Johan Kullberg (Hammerfall) on drums, Chuck Wright (Quiet Riot, House of Lords) on bass, Marl Boals on bass & backing vocals, Steve Mann (MSG/Lionheart), and Mark Mangold on Hammond.
The project was created by Fireworks magazine’s Bruce Mee, who co-wrote most of the material together with Fredrik Folkare.
Here is the playlist of the album tracks:
Reviews: Get Ready to Rock, Metal Temple.
Thanks to Fla76 for the heads-up.
Unauthorized copying, while sometimes necessary, is never as good as the real thing
First song:
To you non-pop nerds, this song immediately made me think of a darker ‘What does the fox say’ 😄
But – ohhh boy this is so much better 🤩
Talks nicely to my inner rock-person…
Very strong vocal 👍🏼
Maybe it’s just me being an illiterate music-lover, but aren’t the drums a bit too weak? Or maybe Ian P has left an eternal mark in my brain drumwise ☺️
Ohh love this!
Sentimental in all its pure rock’n’roll
‘Arbeit macht frei’:
Reminds me of several Danish rock bands, none mentioned – none forgotten, but man that vocal is spectacular (not Ian Gillan spectacular, but he sings in his own right this guy!)
‘Still me’:
Blown away – what a very nice guitar to begin with (Steve Morse?)
“I want you to die” – hey come on!
‘Silent killer’:
Sadly no more time to dwell into this, but I’ll relisten later….
‘Rainbows end’:
July 2nd, 2025 at 06:53Thanks Fla76 👍🏼 have never heard this hadn’t I been in here 😊
I acquired the CD a few days ago and have taken it for a few spins. It’s very good. Hard/heavy melodic rock with obvious tips of the hat to the spirit and style of Ronnie James Dio.
July 2nd, 2025 at 12:35#1 Karin:
you’re welcome, I just captured the news for the community, I’m certainly never going to be the first to scoop about Purple!
be careful it’s not Morse, it’s Morris (former guitar player of big Ian from naked thunder onwards).
Personally, the songs by this supergroup don’t mean much to me, they’re all stuff I’ve heard a million times twenty years ago.
but with the musical desolation that exists at the moment, at least it’s an anonymous heavy rock, but well done
July 2nd, 2025 at 22:20@3
Thanks, yeah, I misunderstood the ‘Steve Morris’ concept!
Mainly because I could not in my wildest dreams imagine Steve Morris playing this kind of hard rock, and played that very very good!
“musical desolation” – ohh I know exactly what you mean! But then again I live in a country where the most exquisite taste is listening to the schmaltz!
When I highly praise Purple, a lot of people don’t believe me! So I often show them my collection of music (cds) and dvds, and then they say: but you’re a grown up…. Yeah! And I have a great taste, at least in music. 😄
I can tell you that ABBA and that kind of music is still the most respected genre here🙄
July 3rd, 2025 at 11:41(No Uwe, I don’t mind ABBA! But I don’t find it to be the top of all genres! )
Hi Karen @4…..nothing wrong with ABBA! They’re the Dark Destroyer (a.k.a. Ritchie Blackmore)’s favourite band! He loves the melodic quality of their music.
July 3rd, 2025 at 18:01@5
Indeed there isn’t!
But if that is all you hear, life tends to get a little, well not even two-dimensional but rater one-dimensional ☺️😉
July 4th, 2025 at 04:12Karin, Steve Morris (not Morse) is a made-to-order songsmith, he writes as is required, hence he was also the guy who wrote the very heavy Toolbox album for Ian.
Naked Thunder, the predecessor album, sounded so outrageously poppy because of the very glossy late 80s production job, it wasn’t necessarily just the songs Steve Morris had written for it, but the sound yanked everything into pop territory. Incidentally, the producer was Leif Mases – he of Polar Studios, Stockholm, fame – there you have your ABBA connection and why Naked Thunder sounds so absolutely squeaky-clean Scandinavian.
Steve Morris could probably write a new Sabbath album if you asked him nicely. He’s versatile if a bit workmanlike and anodyne in what he turns out.
July 4th, 2025 at 12:50@7
“why Naked Thunder sounds so absolutely squeaky-clean Scandinavian.“
– you’re not the first commenting on Scandinavian cleanliness!
And I thank you for that: because then I will take a nap instead of cleaning up in here…. A little dirt has never hurt anyone, I’m told.
I just have to express my surprise, because Steve Morris didn’t strike me as a more heavy-based guitarist!
I love the way he play here:
https://youtu.be/3EX7OL9__e8?si=Sefi4zZs9QcbnD94
But from that to this:
https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=LgQf2dUrtAI&si=fvGft1n_tw7k1uGK&feature=xapp_share
Demands some stretch of the imagination, at least in my head.
I’m thrilled about the album though 😊 well it’s certainly not Purple-quality (the highest quality there exists if you ask me (which you don’t, but for argument’s sake) and I have a tendency to compare all bands and vocalist to Purple and Ian) but it has a right to be here anyway 🤩
Btw: am I the only one who sense a bit DAD in ‘Sign of the wolf’? DAD when they were younger, that is 😊
Another BTW: I have never liked Slade! But thanks to the ‘Cuz I luv you’, and that is quite annoying really 😄 I find myself searching for other songs of the band with the guitarist with the ridiculous bangs!
https://youtube.com/shorts/HGc81WXDisI?si=YzxXwIN6Fn8Z4lF5
Well, as a kidney stone, I hope this will pass (and I promise you, it’s almost as hurtful as I’ve witnessed men passing kidney stones earlier in my life 😁)
July 4th, 2025 at 14:49@7
“Steve Morris could probably write a new Sabbath album if you asked him nicely. He’s versatile if a bit workmanlike and anodyne in what he turns out.”
– when I ask anyone anything, I always do it nicely, but I have no desire of another BS album!
I didn’t know the word ‘anodyne’, painkiller…. Well! 😃 live and learn!
July 4th, 2025 at 14:52I meant “not likely to cause offense” as the definition of anodyne!
Steve Morris sounds to me like that.
July 4th, 2025 at 22:30@9 🤣 Mafe my day.
July 5th, 2025 at 11:28@10
Yeah, got that…!
I like Steve Morris!
Where would the world of music be without the likes of him ?
He can, and will, take anything upon him to make music happen 😊
July 6th, 2025 at 03:06Karin doesn’t know this Black Sabbath song – if she did, she’d of course like it.
https://youtu.be/Tr-puXiUMvE
And as a Jeff Lynne nut, she must appreciate this here as well:
https://youtu.be/pYomVbcJKhI
July 6th, 2025 at 06:22@ 13 – one of the only good songs on that very ordinary Sabbath album. Bill had a good voice. Moving to now days and he should have kept his shirt on at that Sabbath farewell circus event. He is 77, oh well. At least he was there and playing and it was good for him to sign off after all that negative rubbish he had laid on him 13 years ago. Poor Ozzy, he looked terrible, to be expected considering his current health issues. Goodnight Black Sabbath and thanks ever so much for the glorious ride. Cheers
July 6th, 2025 at 11:18@13
You got me there:
“if she did, she’d of course like it.”
– I do have to admit it is Ozzy O’s voice that rubs me the very wrong way!
But I do adore Tony Iommi’s guitar-playing. This gentleman singing is doing a good job.
And when Ian joined them for that glorious year, everything was lifted to a higher level! Just sayin’ 😊🥰
“And as a Jeff Lynne nut”
– well Uwe, please explain to me what that tune (with Ozzy O as the vocalist 😳) has anything to do with the formidable Jeff Lynne?
July 6th, 2025 at 15:29“So Tired” was at the time of its release generally perceived as an ELO pastiche with its overbearing violins and Beatlish harmonies.
Never forget that Ozzy and your Jeff L are from the same neck of the woods, Brummies both of them. I mean the Move and ELO drummer Bev Bevan even played with Black Sabbath during IG’s tenure, Bill Ward didn’t tour at the time. The Birmingham music scene is pretty closely knit.
July 7th, 2025 at 01:55@16
“overbearing violins”
– 🤣🤣🤣
Ohh yes the excellent ELO drummer Bev Bevan indeed did play for BS, but he looked so wrong there. He has always been dieser reine und tugendhafte Junge 😄
I don’t even know if Jeff Lynne was particularly impressed with Bev!
Well, thank you for another herablassender Kommentar re Jeff Lynne! Always amuses me so much 😂
July 7th, 2025 at 09:14Where was I herablassend/dismissive about Jeff Lynne, he‘s a sound magician, albeit one with a limited variety of spells!
I have everything from ELO and I‘ve seen him live, he has his own sound (to the exclusion of pretty much anything else). It‘s a recipe bordering on the gimmicky, but I don‘t think ELO ever were The Beatles or Queen as regards creating a variety of styles of music nor is Jeff Lynne David Bowie when it comes to reinventing himself and staying cutting edge. I don‘t believe that Herr Lynne would put himself into that league either. He‘s a very artful one-trick-pony.
Jeff Lynne‘s treatment of other musicians in ELO was pretty much abysmal, Richard Tandy being the one exception, but then he is not alone in that.
July 7th, 2025 at 17:44@18
Well, I do agree!
He is doing his “farewell” tour these days(that’s not what he calls it, maybe it the “over and done”-tour) and hopefully he is not doing it like Sinatra 😄
He looks really ‘over-and-done’ with.
Haven’t seen him this time, but I saw pics. Ohhh man 🫣
I loved a lot of his music when I was young, but more the early stuff, because when he got extra ‘electrified’ I couldn’t hear if it was real instruments or Richard Tandy that went bananas at the keyboard.
No doubt he is a genius! And his fans have been multiplying over the last 15 years or so.
As a 15 yo it was not acceptable to be liking ELO, some people snorted ‘Beatles-copies’, but I didn’t care! I was very happy with ‘On the third day’, ‘No Answer’ (btw: do you know how the album got that title: No Answer?), ‘A new world record’ and ‘Face the Music’ – actually I loved that albums. ‘Out of the blue’ was Wohlklang, but there was missing some nerve!
When Jeff was cooperating with Roy Wood, he could do his magic, but Roy kept it down-to-earth, rocking, well almost sensual.
But when Roy left, some of the original disappeared, and with ‘Discovery’ Jeff lost all the authentic sound and it felt like concentrated at what would sell records, and then he made music after that.
A very big disappointment!
As a producer he is very well-liked. But it’s easy to hear when he has been producing.
At bit like Mutt Lange I guess…
Are you going to see Oasis?
July 7th, 2025 at 19:14As far as I know they only do concerts in GB for now, but oh I hope they will come to the continent! Preferably Denmark, but I dont mind going to Germany, Norway, well even Sweden (😉😄) to get to see Noel and Liam getting along, oh I mean playing and singing.
Re: Sabbath / ELO – would be amazed if Ozzy’s vocal style wasn’t heavily influenced by that of Move leader / ELO co-founder Roy Wood.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iEad6hWxKhE
July 7th, 2025 at 19:47I saw Oasis twice back in the Noughties, Karin, one gig was good the other one was listless with Liam not speaking a word throughout the whole performance (his shtick, I know), I don’t feel pressed to see them again. Besides, I’m more a fan of their later work, I prefer Standing On The Shoulders Of Giants and Heathen Chemistry to all their other albums, and I believe the only song they currently play from that era is (the brilliant) Little By Little.
https://youtu.be/tM1RS_5IAiE
*************************************************************
Skippy, yes the Roy Wood influence is audible – people often miss that Sabbath through all their heaviness retained a commercial edge because Ozzy was with his naive straightforward little melodies more of a pop singer than either Robert Plant or Ian Gillan (or even DC and GH for that matter) who all wrote their vocal lines in a more complex, less childlike way. It’s also something that explains his solo career success, Ozzy might not have always hit every note and had a tendency to sing flat live, but he always tried to be tuneful. He once commented to a very raw metal act opening for him (and featuring standard barked, bellowed, belched & grunted vocals) that they “would be so much better if they sang a little”. Ozzy liked to hear a melody, the ole Beatles buff:
https://youtu.be/yOfl1Oqe_DA
I’m happy for him that his recent goodbye gig with Sabbath turned out to be such an emotional & worthy/dignified send-off, there has always been something sincere and touching (as well as endearingly helpless) about him that even Sharon’s over-protective hard-ass and Machiavellian business practices could not fully obscure.
July 8th, 2025 at 14:23@21
‘Little by little’ is one of my favourites too! I really dig Noel’s voice ☺️
The Cardiff concert (5th of July) was spectacular! Both brothers in good mood, Lian cracking some jokes, and an overall nice concert.
The tabloids in GB doomed the brothers to be over before they have started, but I sincerely hope they can behave and start making beautiful and meaningful music again!
July 9th, 2025 at 03:48Oasis are good, but I’ve always considered them ultra-commercial and ultra-overrated.
Of course, compared to the musical rubbish that’s out there today, they’re pure gold.
July 9th, 2025 at 23:12@23
Ohh 🤣🤣🤣
I simply love to hear people contradict themselves in one post 😂😆
Normally only Uwe does this 😄😂
Sorry Fla76
July 10th, 2025 at 06:36#24 Karin
Dolce Karin,
July 10th, 2025 at 08:49It’s just a matter of perspective, today’s musical dullness makes me reevaluate many bands that I hated in the 90s!
(yawning) Did someone just call me?
Uwe thinks Oasis/”that ADIDAS & Ben Sherman tribute from Manchester” are ooooooo-kay, nothing to get worked up about either way. Some good tunes, few good albums. Two brothers mildly entertaining, the rest of the band has always been irrelevant. Mancunian mediocrity with behavioral issues.
But all instrumentalists in that band would have a hard time even getting a job as drum-, bass-, keyboard- or banjo-technicians for Little Ian, Roger, Don & Simon, let’s not kid ourselves. There is also zero improvisation in Oasis’ set and they use pre-recorded tracks (to augment their legendary “Oasis Wall of Sound”) and click tracks half the time, I’ve seen drummers play so stiff with them you could have ground them down and sold them as Viagra. Some of what the guitarists do (or rather not do) makes Johnny Ramone seem like Steve Vai. But it’s ok to build a career around a few Lagerfeuerakkorde just as long as you have some attitude and a good haircut.
Liam has matured as a singer, he’s still a one-trick-pony, but a recognizable one.
And I know what I’m talking about, I have all their albums, played in a de facto Oasis tribute for years (never playing what the Oasis bassists played because their parts are so inane and don’t really make use of the harmonic possibilities Noel’s compositions do offer) and have seen them live twice.
They are now touring to packed stadiums playing what – their first two albums, a set list copied & pasted from the 90s? That would be like DP touring with just In Rock, Fireball & Machine Head songs, there would be an uproar here if they did that (even a positive uproar from some! 🤣).
Did I contradict myself here anywhere, liebe Karin, or lack insight on the subject matter?
But who knows, Noel might learn how to play a major key solo yet, maybe if someone bought him a few Molly Hatchet albums to acquaint himself with this art? From them he could also understand what three guitarists on stage can do (just like currently Oasis sports, if for no musically valid reason other than that Bonehead’s presence warms the fans’ hearts and he was available cheap on the quick …), i.e. there are alternatives to all three of them playing the same bar chord … 🙄
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h7J_VAGwQFo
Hopefully, this did not come out too scathing. At the risk of contradicting myself: They are sort of ooooooo-kay …
July 10th, 2025 at 16:17Flash insight:
Contradictory behavior is only something wimmin are allowed to indulge in – it is their second nature.
July 10th, 2025 at 18:07@25
Thanks for being such a good sport about it!
Really my post was just to get to Uwe and tease him a bit (somehow he always make me get in that state of mind!)
I do agree with you: today’s bands are depressingly bad!
I have always loved Oasis. They are boys (I know we are the same age, I’m thinking about their behaviour) and they have this refreshing attitude I do miss from bands emerging today.
Oh those young boys and girls seem to have forgotten what it is to play good music and entertain people.
It looks like to me they are more interested in making nice selfies 😝
If only there would be more groups like Purple, but I’m afraid they can never be copied!
July 11th, 2025 at 15:36@26
Yes Uwe, that would be me… (I was bored a bit and needed som debate… so sue me 😄)
“Liam has matured as a singer, he’s still a one-trick-pony, but a recognizable one.”
– well, doesn’t it appear in the word ‘one-trick-pony’ that such a phenomenon always is, uhm, recognisable???
“And I know what I’m talking about”
– somehow you always do 😉
“I have all their albums”
– me too!
And I can tell you why they play old tracks at their concerts, are you ready?
The British nation, and the rest of us, are thrilled the Gallagher brothers finally have buried the battle axe, and hugs and kisses are overflowing the stage!
The other night I couldn’t sleep, I saw their first concert, recorded in Cardiff.. it was brilliant!
And by this I mean it was brilliant to see the ‘didn’t look back in anger’ 😍
I have missed them big time! The two bands they were playing in, just didn’t do it, did they? Some birds were flying high and whatnot, but Oasis is the right combination for those two to be ind 😊
“Did I contradict myself here anywhere, liebe Karin, or lack insight on the subject matter?”
– uhh no! You were perfect…
I do miss a good banter now and then, but ok ☺️
“Hopefully, this did not come out too scathing. At the risk of contradicting myself: They are sort of ooooooo-kay …”
– they are very much ok!
July 11th, 2025 at 15:50Not Purple ok, and definitely not Ian ok, but ok for Oasis 😊
@27
And we only do this and act like this to mess with you!
Or as Carl Jung would put it:
The privilege of a lifetime is to become who you truly are,”
“Everything that irritates us about others can lead us to an understanding of ourselves,”
“Knowing your own darkness is the best method for dealing with the darknesses of other people”.
😄😄
July 11th, 2025 at 15:53I’m happy for Noel’s and Liam’s mum that they are back together.
Noel has had a costly divorce with the wife Liam always said he should not marry & the High Flying Birds weren’t stratospheric commercially, so that certainly goes into the sibling
peaceceasefire equation. Let’s see whether they will record new music and tour that – I doubt it, especially since Liam has evolved as a songwriter and will no longer take second place.My favorite Oasis number is this one here:
https://youtu.be/-6X0rOC32AA
With Noel playing (quite innovatively actually) a Rickenbacker 4005 hollow-body bass guitar he had loaned from his idol, the Modfather Paul Weller. Similarities to a band from Liverpool are purely coincidental of course.
July 12th, 2025 at 00:40@31
Hey! ‘Go let it out’ is also among my favourites!
So is this one:
https://youtu.be/p29MG7wn4F8?si=0e1Zn1dIMvxGvrRu
And this: (no one can pronounce ‘sunshine’ as Liam!
https://youtu.be/SaeLKhRnkhQ?si=BCgDw4lRi28_IIWH
Not to forget this one:
https://youtu.be/0ixUTmjjkGU?si=B3DisCoWtvFehKHA
And finally this little heartbreak:
https://youtu.be/dhZUsNJ-LQU?si=l7lI6x7u_LcPHe7L
Uwe, I don’t care who does what, writing lyrics, play the tamburine, guitar etc, as long as they keep on doing what they are best at! And hopefully come to the continent 😃
July 12th, 2025 at 11:40