The Republic of Wolves - Shrine
By: Jody Lynn Jackson
Long Island Rock band, The Republic of Wolves, recently released and launched their newest album at The Knitting Factory in Brooklyn.
Their third full length, Shrine, is a narrative concept album, successfully funded on the popular crowd-funding platform, Indiegogo.
The album is the marination of three years of musical exploration and maturation for the group. "Lyrically, it's a roughly narrative concept album, drawing inspiration from mythology and folklore, and musically it's the amalgamation of three years' worth of ideas and experimentation - all leading to a cohesive body of work that we're immensely proud of,” Maggio shared.
When listening to album from start to finish, the narrative surfaces quickly. As Maggio mentioned, the album addresses existential questions of faith and doubt and life itself. Yet even when the lyrical content is dark and complex, the melodies draw from the writer’s pop sensibilities and remain musically accessible to the listener.
Band members include vocalist and guitarist, Mason Maggio, guitarist Christian Van Deurs, Chris Wall on drums, keyboardist and contributing vocalist Billy Duprey, and bassist Ryan Sean Cullinane.
Shrine is a musically rich and lyrically complex journey that Republic of Wolves is inviting us into. The sound ranges from heavy post hardcore to acoustic folk rock, and the questions in the narrative are felt in the song structures all throughout. Starting with The Canyon, perhaps allegory for a starting point, finding a way to the apex in Mitama -- both in sound and spirit, and ending with “Worry If you Want (Yume),” a resolve to all the questions the album begs.
