Lets just jump right into this review. If all metal music sounded like this - then I probably would consider myself a bigger fan of metal music. August Burns Red and other of their ilk could take a few lessons from Jonathan and Caleb on how to do good music - good strong instrumentals but with lyrics that are actually understandable.
Unlike a lot of Jonathan’s other music - you can’t use the excuse that it is a cover and that is why the lyrics are both smooth and understandable. This is his own original music, music that he wrote the lyrics for as well as sang and yet through it all you can understand EVERY SINGLE WORD. Finally a “metal” artist that gets it that music is meant to be enjoyed and not just be a wall of sound that assaults the listener’s ears to make the song fit into the oddly broad definition of what metal music is.
That isn’t to say that this song doesn’t have those embarrassing things that I think of whenever I hear that a song is supposed to be a metal song. While it doesn’t have anything as over the top as an artist doing pig squealing on it’s way to be slaughtered, it does have the stereotypical yells, low growls, quick animal growls, and high falsetto vocals.
Beyond making fun of the metal genre just for fun (and I mean who can’t resist making fun of the genre as a whole at times?) - I found myself ultimately enjoying this this song and for a few different reasons.
The first is that overall I just liked the musicality of it. The song was equal parts energetic, driving and had just the right amount of legato sections interspersed within it, which just helped to emphasize the lyrics even more than they already were. As someone that grew up playing in the orchestra, this was a welcome addition. Most modern songs, from the first very note of the song hit the ground running and never stop, or they never get out of the starting gate and just have all these whole notes to make the song sound smooth but never lets it accelerate and gather energy.
I do have to be fair though in that this is a very stereotypical Jonathan Young song. There is a lot of synth work in it, which provides a lot of the “strings” and other legato portions of the music. And for some reason whenever I think of a Jonathan Young song I always think of those strong synth keys and bells in the background at some point. Even though these elements are present, they do not take away from the song as a whole, and help to counter the continual push forward the guitar and drums take the song in a nice gentle way to allow the listener to catch their breath and be able to enjoy the music.
The second reason I enjoyed this song was the lyrics. Let me explain. As I listened to the song - especially the first few times before I watched the music video that accompanies it - I couldn’t help but think of the old Native American legend which describes the battle that goes on inside all of us. The battle between two wolves - one evil and one good. As the legend goes:
"One is evil. It is anger, envy, jealousy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego.
The other is good. It is joy, peace love, hope serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion and faith.
Which wolf wins? ... The one you feed."
It probably didn’t help that the song was called Wolf Within - which helped to conjure those images based of the name of the song alone. Continuing on in the lyrics the second verse that Caleb sings
There is a war inside me. My soul against my mind
and then of course there is the lyrics
I can hear my demons calling out
Deep in my mind
Biding their time beneath my skin
And my broken soul's a battleground
Holding the line
Desperate to find a way to win
Can I conquer the wolf within?
Between the lyrics and thinking on this old Native American legend, this made my mind think over to what is talked about in the New Testament in Romans 7:15-20,23-24
15 For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. 16 Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. 17 So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. 18 For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. 19 For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. 20 Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. …
23 but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. 24 Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?
The concept of fighting against one’s own inner desires and things in our mind which makes us want to do things that we don’t want to do harmonizes with the lyrics of the songs and these things.
I will also note that lyrically - and I don’t know if Jonathan did this on purpose or not - the lyrics that he sings are way more direct than what Caleb sings. It shows that in the song there are two different “speakers” which are presenting their views in the song. When we get to Caleb we get a lot more imagery:
- My shadows always find me, every step there close behind
- And like a waning candle
- the river in a drought
- my flame with every battle slowly burning out
The third reason is again the lyrics. So upon the initial listening I enjoyed the song and lyrics immensely as I was pulling parallels and thoughts from Biblical sources as well as from old fables and allowed me to mull over them in the course of the song. Most people like to be able to listen to a song just to have fun - and I do once in a while as well - but I also prefer to be able to pull something from it as well. A lesson, emotion, thought, pondering to chew on - those are what make a song for me at least more than just background noise. And listening to the song the first time I thought that was there.
And then I watched the music video…and introduced the fourth reason I ended up liking this song and ended up happy on a whole other level.
Jonathan was using the wolf inside as a metaphorical battle within his mind/soul and in the case of the music video it ended up being a literal werewolf curse inside him that he was fighting - but ultimately (in a weird way) it became the same thing. But watching the video it played out as though instead of a companion to a song it was instead a short little DnD/Pathfinder adventure disguised as a music video and the inner nerd in me was pleased.
Caleb doing his little going back and forth in his mind before deciding to cut the captive Jonathan free was a nice little moment that reminded me of the table top callbacks in my mind. Regardless if that is just in my mind or not - does it really matter?
The music video is far from perfect but overall was good. I will say is during Caleb’s verse his over dramatized singing of his verse is just a little over the top and silly but overall doesn’t ruin the video as a whole. Maybe I am just used to his and Jonathan’s antics from previous videos? See their covers of Living on A Prayer Bye Bye Bye, Africa, Livin La Vida Loca, and Boulevard of Broken Dreams for examples of how they typically act together in videos. So Maybe I have a little bias I don’t know - regardless the overdramatic acting didn’t take away from the video but overall might’ve added to it just a little.
The lighting overall was great, with a good contrast between the two sides of Jonathan’s face (half red, half normal) most of the times he was singing which added a nice little bit of dimension to the video. It is unfortunate that it relied on a lot of those embers flying around, as you can tell those are CGI and added after the fact. The rest of the lighting though was great - and the team should be commended for getting it right to fit with the atmosphere of the song as a whole.
Now was there anything I did not like on it? Honestly if I had one complaint in this whole song is that I wish it was a little longer - it was a little short. But that seems to be the trend with current music these days so I guess I should be glad we even got to three and a half minutes.
Paul’s Scores
Musicality: 5
Lyrics: 5
Music Video: 4
Biblical Relation: 3
On Playlist: Yes
Aaron's Scores
Musicality: 3
Lyrics: 4
Music Video: 3
Biblical Relation: 3
On Playlist: Yes
