WOLFBRIGADE – HOWL FROM UNDERGROUND

Swedish punk-metal veterans return with a new manifesto of resistance.

Wolfbrigade are back with their twelfth full-length album, Howl from Underground, arriving October 9, 2026 via Metal Blade Records.

More than three decades into their career, the Swedish punk-metal veterans are returning with a record that looks firmly toward the band's roots while simultaneously challenging the way they have traditionally approached recording and songwriting.

The result is described by the band as their loudest, fullest and thickest-sounding record yet — an album built around instinct, physical energy and the idea of refusing to be domesticated.

A record built on resistance

At the heart of Howl from Underground is the concept of “Lycanthro Punk”, an identity Wolfbrigade have developed throughout their long history.

For the band, the wolf represents something deeper than an aesthetic image. It represents an instinct that refuses to disappear beneath the structures of modern society — a restless force that survives civilization.

The album's accompanying manifesto, “Notes on Failed Domestication,” takes that idea further.

The central theme is resistance against the forces that attempt to make people obedient, predictable and passive. Rather than presenting lycanthropy as a curse, Wolfbrigade frame it as a form of escape — choosing instinct, freedom and the animal over conformity and the cage.

That philosophy runs through the album's twelve tracks.

Breaking the usual recording process

One of the most interesting aspects of Howl from Underground is the band's decision to deliberately change their usual working methods.

For approximately the previous decade, Wolfbrigade had recorded, produced and mixed their albums themselves. This time, however, they wanted to bring someone from outside the band into the process — someone whose work they respected and who they felt understood what Wolfbrigade represented.

That person was Lawrence Mackrory, known for his work with artists including Meshuggah, Katatonia, Paradise Lost and Bloodbath.

The album was recorded at Necromorbus Studio, a converted Baptist church associated with extreme-metal recordings and known for its distinctive atmosphere.

Rather than constructing the album layer by layer, Wolfbrigade wanted to capture the five musicians as a single unit.

That decision is central to the character of the record.

The band describes the interaction between five people performing together in the same moment as something difficult to reproduce through more controlled production methods. Without the usual safety net, the focus becomes sharper, the energy becomes more immediate, and the unexpected has room to emerge.

The return of Dadde Stark

Another important part of Wolfbrigade's recent history is the return of drummer David “Dadde” Stark, who originally played with the band from 2002 to 2015.

His return brought an immediate sense of chemistry back into the group.

The renewed energy also resulted in the 2025 live album Kill To Live, which became an important reminder of what Wolfbrigade were at their most fundamental level.

Instead of taking a long break after that release, the band moved almost directly into the development of Howl from Underground.

Ideas that had existed within the band's concept of Lycanthro Punk for years gradually developed into the album's central themes.

The result is a record that does not attempt to abandon Wolfbrigade's identity — it pushes against its boundaries.

New angles without losing the Wolfbrigade identity

The band describes the songwriting process as remaining within the same relatively narrow framework that has always defined Wolfbrigade, while continuing to explore its outer edges.

There are new melodies, different approaches and new ways of reaching the desired destination.

Among the examples highlighted in the band's own description are the almost gothic melancholy underneath “When Dogs Cry,” the atmospheric note patterns of “Cold War Bootlicker”, and the long chords and rock-oriented surge of “Seeking Scapegoats.”

Yet these elements are not presented as radical departures.

Instead, they remain deeply connected to the band's established sound.

For Wolfbrigade, experimentation is not about sounding different simply for the sake of sounding different. The song has to possess something more fundamental.

If it feels hungry, if there is a primitive energy inside it, then it deserves to exist.

That idea perhaps explains the album better than any genre description could.

“Lycanthro Punk”

The term Lycanthro Punk has been part of Wolfbrigade's identity for more than 30 years.

It combines the rawness of their d-beat punk roots with a more primal and almost mythological dimension — the wolf becoming a symbol of freedom, aggression, instinct and refusal to be controlled.

The band connects that force with myth, folklore and philosophy throughout history.

The wolf is one name for it.

Dionysus is another.

At its core, it is the idea of a restlessness that survives civilization.

That concept gives Howl from Underground more than just a thematic framework. It provides a consistent philosophy connecting the music, lyrics and identity of the album.

Twelve songs, one uncompromising statement

Howl from Underground contains twelve tracks and has a total playing time of approximately 30 minutes and 58 seconds.

Tracklist:

1. Caveman Motherfuck

2. Doomrunner

3. Howl from Underground

4. Born to Rot

5. When Dogs Cry

6. Cold War Bootlicker

7. Fat Man Hellscape

8. Headhunting

9. Cosmic Meatgrinder

10. Seeking Scapegoats

11. Man Is Wolf to Man

12. Tangled Steel Mask

With its combination of punk aggression, metallic weight, raw production philosophy and the band's long-established Lycanthro Punk identity, the album appears designed less as a nostalgic return to the past and more as a continuation of Wolfbrigade's original instinct — only pushed further.

Release details

Artist: Wolfbrigade

Album: Howl from Underground

Label: Metal Blade Records

Release date: October 9, 2026

Format: Full-length album

Tracks: 12

Playing time: 30:58

Line-up

Micke Dahl – vocals

Erik Norberg – guitar

Jocke Rydbjer – guitar

Johan Erkenvåg – bass

Dadde Stark – drums

The album's title track, “Howl from Underground,” is scheduled to become available ahead of the full album on October 6, 2026.

Recommended for fans of

Listeners drawn to d-beat punk, crust-influenced Swedish metal and uncompromising underground aggression will find plenty to return to here.

Follow the artist

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wolfbrigadeofficial

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lycanthropunks

Metal Madness Weekly – Editorial Note

Metal Madness Weekly LTD is proud to present this feature on Wolfbrigade and Howl from Underground as part of our ongoing coverage of international metal and underground music.

Press information, promotional materials and imagery courtesy of Metal Blade Records.

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Published by Tomi Perrakoski / Metal Madness Weekly (c).