Brother Wolf’s highly anticipated second album, After Fear, is a brooding pool of post-punk emotion and surrealist ideas portrayed through excellent musicianship.
A multi-instrumentalist hailing from Michigan, Brother Wolf’s new album After Fear offers a unique perspective on the turmoil and tumultuous times of the 2020s so far.
Even though it is a trademark sound when it comes to any kind of post-punk music, what’s striking about After Fear is its angst. Throughout the project, you can feel Brother Wolf’s unshakeable anxiety and moody sense of nihilism.
The first Song “Wait” serves as a great opener and has one of my favourite instrumentals on the project. The whining tone from Brother Wolf and the enigmatic yet compelling lyrics feel very reminiscent of The Smashing Pumpkins’ Billy Corgan mixed with the weird modernism of Empire of the Sun.
The album then becomes even more fast-paced with “Owe It All To You” and “Meltdown Breakthrough”. “Owe It All To You” directly channels the post-punk side of the album with a roaringly fast-paced guitar that adds to the anxiousness in Brother Wolf’s lyrics and vocal delivery which climaxes with him repeating “I Owe It All To You” like a madman who had finally reached breaking point.
“Meltdown Breakthrough” has a fantastic electric guitar throughout the song, playing dystopian chords that shape the thematic atmosphere of the track. Brother Wolf’s husky voice alongside this instrumentation feels like strolling through a desolate wasteland, accepting the harrowing circumstances.
“Snakes” is quite different from all of the above-mentioned songs, as it takes a more synthetic and electric approach in its production. It is probably the most ambience-driven track on the album and even dissolves into repetitive whispers and drones at certain points in the song.
Although I appreciate how Brother Wolf tried to vary his production with this track, I don’t think its themes and stagnant song structure justify its six-minute running time. I feel like it could’ve been wrapped up quite nicely around the three to four-minute mark.
“Worthless Billionaire” is a brilliant concept song sung from the perspective of an uncaring billionaire who is oblivious to how his greed is destroying society. What makes the song so great is the sinister nature in which it is sung, in a funny yet dark way its like if Jeff Bezos sung Creep by Radiohead.
“Recognising” and “Something Better” are the first skips on the album for me as both feel a little bit too messy and unorganized. If given a bit more time I feel like both songs could be fleshed out into something more engaging and cohesive.
However, I will say the lyrics of “Something Better” are interesting in how they involve American politics and false propaganda and how it can negatively impact people’s thinking.
The album’s closing track “Present” feels like a full circle moment back to the surrealistic atmosphere of the first song “Wait”. It also features fantastically atmospheric production that feels cinematic in its grandiose maximalist style.
I think this song also has Brother Wolf’s best singing, especially at the end where his screeching backing vocal bleeds pure hopeful emotion in a David Bowie-esque way.
Wolf sings of how staying in the “now” is the best way to maintain focus and drifting towards hypotheticals and false fantasies always ends up leading to a longer spiral.
Score/Excellent: After Fear is a project that thrives off of its theme and shines in terms of cohesion and continuity. For those who like moody post-punk and challenging political commentary. After Fear will be a treat.
[I rank the album on a scale of: Poor, Mediocre, Good, Excellent, Outstanding]
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