THE WINDOW PURPOSE

"The Window Purpose" is the debut full-length studio album by swedish progressive metal act Wolverine. The album was released through DVS Records in November 2001. The 2005 Earache Records reissue features a different cover artwork, an improved sound production and an additional 10 minutes long track titled "Again!".

Wolverine apparently started life as a melodic death metal band which can be heard a few times on "The Window Purpose". The music is very influenced by the softer more melodic Dream Theater and especially early- to mid nineties Fates Warning. They do have their own sound even though the influences are clearly heard. Their death metal past is nowhere to be found in the instrumental side of the music but there are occasional semi-growling vocals on the album that tell the story of a band that started out playing a more extreme style of music. The semi-growling vocal delivery is something I could have done without though. Not because I don´t like growling but drummer Marcus Losbjer who growls on the album is not a very convincing growler. It sounds powerless and tame. He simply doens´t sound like he means it. It´s a minor complaint though and fortunately "The Window Purpose" features lots of great parts and quality clean vocals.

The music is pre-dominantly softer progressive metal with lots of non distorted guitar parts. The only really heavy riff appears in the track "Coma" and it´s only an element among others in that song. The whole album is of high quality but "My Room" needs a mention as one of the highlights with it´s very Fates Warning like off-beat drumming. Stefan Zell is an excellent singer and with his beautiful clean vocal delivery the tracks come to life. The musicianship is generally very strong though. One other asset is the well sounding production.

"The Window Purpose" might not be the most original sounding progressive metal album out there, but if you enjoy progressive metal which emphasize melody and only secondly complexity, "The Window Purpose" is a recommendable listen. A 3.5 star (70%) rating is deserved.