Fucking Werewolf Asso - Kid! Just Letting You Know We Are Doing It Again (2010)

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I know I owe the blog and all the people reading it a few write-ups (both for the Connections 2 split which I reeeeally want to review and for "Heaven in Her Arms"), but since I haven't posted anything in a while maybe it will be better to open the season with something new. Yep, something new which grasped my attention and made me listen to it for a week or so non-stop!

But there is a little catch, so to speak. This really isn't a band typical for this blog and the band being on this page will certainly add a new tag unto the list. Call it 8-bit, call it nintendocore, call it however you wish, you get the point, right? I usually like to call it just plain nintendo, since other terms tend to remind me of some other things I don't really like much...I'll get to that later. Usually I frown and avoid posting stuff like this, but some bands just damn deserve it and this is such a band.

"Fucking Werewolf Asso" is a two piece hailing from Sweden and it is worth mentioning at the start that this is ex-"Go! With Fourteen O" (Denis being the ex member, actually). Curse you Sweden for having so many great projects! So if you listened to Go! you should know that you are in for some amazing tunes here as well. Though I approached listening to Werewolf with that kind of mindset I was completely blown away at how this flew above my expectations! First thing you notice is the vocal change which mutated from a raspy, screaming, maniacal one into a soft, 90's emo kind of voice. I must admit, at the first few seconds I heard it I didn't really like it and basically in a moment it just hit me how great it goes along with the music. The instrumental part has changed also, the drums are less aggressive and blend so well into the background, but at the same time are quite a big part of the tunes.

Ah, and the keyboards are a story for themselves. Me being in a nintendo project made me learn how complicated it is to create a "good" melody when you have such a vast array of effects, programs and plugins, but trying to keep a unique sound type of your own whilst sticking to a theme you wish your tunes to have. And with this band the keyboards are godlike! It's hard for me to explain why, since I never did a review for this kind of music, so my vocabulary is lacking, but the tunes literally blew me away. I'll try to explain it through the song "No, I Didn't Say the Keyboard Needed Flattery!". The melody on the keyboards is constant through the song, quite a catchy 3 second tune repeating itself. But as the song advances you can hear occasional change of pitch (I think), the sudden added extra effects and an overlapping new melody entwined with the constant one near the end. Wow that must have sucked. Anyway, you should pick this band up, if nothing just to hear the keyboards, since they are brilliant, probably the best I heard. Ever.

Keep in mind the songs as a whole are excellently composed with diverse keyboard melodies and effects, greatly fitting drums and specific way of vocal performance. What caught my ear is the use of samples and the occasional inserting of a "choir" of children singing which actually goes amazing with the main vocal. These guys really did their homework well, since this all may seem too much since you have an average 1:40 minute song, when in fact literally every tune is exactly where it should be and nothing jumps out and pokes you in the ear.

At the end I'd like just to vomit something out of my system since it pisses me off very much. People who know of this type of music, no matter how much those people are into underground music, go just far enough into it and stay with bands like "Horse the Band", which although I also like, I tend to call jackoff-core. Just because they hit it big, doesn't mean they are gods and that they defined the nintendosomething genre. People usually don't go beyond hearing that which is the ultimate mainstream and as a result bands like "Fucking Werewolf Asso", "Insert Disc", "I wonder what's for diner" tend to get unnoticed, when in fact they create much better nintendoish tunes then those high on the music stage. So pay attention and give these people a chance, they are extremely talented and deserve every bit of praise. Enjoy!