Blog Post
Existance - 'Wolf Attack'
Iain McArthur • Nov 13, 2021
Album Review
I’m pretty sure I had never seen a French rock band live before I saw Existance. I definitely own some French vinyl such as “L’Elite” by Trust but I don’t recall catching them or indeed any other gallic outfits touring extensively in the UK. That changed in October 2018 when I managed to wangle my schedule so that a work trip to London coincided with a Primal Fear gig at The Dome in Tufnell Park. That was a real win for me; new venue and three bands I had not previously seen – well, one of them was legendary half-man, half-seal band Riot V and I had seen the original Riot at Donnington in 1980. It was a great night and Existance were a very pleasant surprise for a band I previously knew nothing about. They played a great set of old school metal and I enjoyed a short chat with some of the band in broken Scottish/French afterwards, whilst I was buying their 2016 album “Breaking the Rock”.
Fast forward to the present and the band have finally released a follow-up album “Wolf Attack”, although they had been keeping busy releasing some impressive covers on You Tube and there’s a couple of those on the Japanese version of this album (“Altar of the King” by Riot and “Kill the King” by Rainbow). The album is also augmented by some striking cover art by Guatemalan artist, Mario Lopez.
“Highgate Vampire” is a splendid opener, starting with an enticing extended intro and then a very high-pitched introductory scream. Mercifully, singer / song-writer / guitarist, Julian Izard does not keep the pitch up there the whole time and settles at a very pleasant Halfordian level thereafter. They keep an Accept / Judas Priest-like vibe on “Deathbringer” and sprinkle in a bit of Saxon dust on songs like “Power of the Gods”, which is a co-write with Greta Thunberg (no, not really, but it does have an eco-message). There’s definitely plenty to enjoy for fans of 80s trad-metal but there is also a contemporary NWOFHM twist going on and much to enjoy.
The most ‘commercial’ of the tracks are “You Gotta Rock It” and especially “Rock ‘n’ Roll” which is probably my favourite, before they ramp up the metal power on the six-and-a-half-minute tour-de-force of “Sniper Alley” and other tracks like “Preacher of Insanity”.
The last three songs form a musical homage to Julian’s father, who sadly passed away a few years ago. Didier Izard was the singer in 80s French band, H-Bomb, and was commonly known as ‘The Wolf’. His influence on Julian is clear to hear and the title track of this album “Wolf Attack” is a follow-on from the first song that Existance wrote in 2011 which was entitled “Son of Wolf”. The piano ballad “Tears of Fire” is an emotional tribute and the album ends with a truly great cover of H-Bomb’s “Gwendoline”, which is sung in French and sounds brilliant – I am sure Papa Izard will be proud.
C'est une bonne collection de chansons. Tu devrais l'écouter.