For Fans of the Sword: Hear Wolftooth's Beastly New Album 'Blood & Iron'

For the last few years, Richmond, Indiana's Wolftooth have been honing a style of doomy stoner-metal that takes serious cues from '70s proto-metal guitarwork and NWOBHM vocal melodies. Arriving just one year after their 2020 opus, Valhalla, the quartet's new album, Blood & Iron, sounds like a clear leveling up of their style, and we're stoked to be premiering the whole thing below ahead of its official release tomorrow (December 3rd) via Napalm Records.

Although there's often fuzzy, stoner-metal rhythm guitar chugs at the core of their songs, Wolftooth aren't a low-and-slow doom band. Instead, they harness the dense textures of that genre to give their galloping proto-metal tempos and horns-up riffage a walloping force. Blood & Iron is filled with Maiden-esque leads and skyward vocal melodies that are closer to Dio-era Sabbath than Ozzy's initial run, so fans of the Sword should surely take note. Stream the whole record below. 

"Blood & Iron is the culmination of all the work that we as a band have put into forging our sound over the last four years," the band tells us. "Musically, we feel that we've honed what works well for us while expanding on what was already there.This album represents a more mature direction relying on classic heavy metal influence with a strong nod to our proto-metal roots. Lyrically, the album focuses on kings, battle, conquest and myth. These elements together coalesce into a riff-laden slab of heavy metal that we are all proud of."

Blood & Iron is officially out Friday December 3rd via Napalm Records, and it's available for pre-order here.