Photo by Therese Öhrvall
Formed in 1995 in the small Swedish city of Mariestad by key players from Sweden’s legendary hardcore scene, WOLFBRIGADE (known as Wolfpack until 1999) remains among Scandinavia’s most respected, influential and reliable purveyors of real-world, brute-force, political hardcore punk.
The band’s disparate influences are drawn together with unifying solidity – the remorseless rhythms of Discharge, the blue-collar rock ‘n’ roll of Motörhead, the heads-down bludgeon of classic Entombed. The quintet defines their main driving force as “the eternal quest for the ultimate song. We constantly explore the space we can create for progression within our pretty slim framework. Even though our personal tastes are very eclectic, we want to stay true to the WOLFBRIGADE core, but at the same time apply as much pressure as we can to push it further. We’ll mix any influences that we please. War on rules. That has been the concept since the very start of Wolfpack.”
In celebration of their 30th anniversary, WOLFBRIGADE delivers Hostile Wasteland, an EP with a ferocious raw mix originally recorded 2000 in the legendary Sunlight Studios, while they still went under the name Wolfpack. In addition, they unleash Kill To Live, an album of special live renditions of classic tracks, recorded in 2025 in the band’s own Wolfden Studio.
The band comments, “Over the years we have talked about releasing the last recording we did under the name Wolfpack to present it the way it was originally intended. Until now, it has remained more or less buried, only surfacing as bonus tracks on a few limited releases. As we celebrate the band’s 30th anniversary, we went through our archives and unearthed a stack of old DAT tapes which we transferred to digital. Among them we found this raw mix that sounded great. Bloodfilled and savage. And it felt like the right moment to finally give it a proper release.
“When we started out, we were five guys from different punk and metal bands who came together. The fusion of d-beat, punk, and death metal came naturally. That this hybrid beast is still alive three decades later feels insane. And at the same time inevitable. The band has burned itself into our DNA. Over the years some songs turned into staples in our live sets, others never really came out the way we wanted on the recordings, some changed shape with time, some we almost forgot. When we finally had proper recording possibilities in our rehearsal space, our guitarist Jocke Rydbjer’s own Wolfden Studio, we thought: ‘Why not give these songs another chance? Record them live, document how we actually sound as one. Five friends in a room. Nothing polished. Nothing dressed. Just naked to the bare arse.’ This is Lycanthro Punk 2025. Since 1995.”
Watch a visualizer for the track “Hostile Wasteland” HERE and “Enter The Gates” HERE.
Both Hostile Wasteland and Kill To Live are available now digitally at: metalblade.com/wolfbrigade.
WOLFBRIGADE 30th Anniversary Show:
10/18/2025 Kollektivet Live – Stockholm, SE w/ Skitsystem, Paranoid
WOLFBRIGADE Lineup:
Micke Dahl – vocals
Erik Norberg – guitar
Jocke Rydbjer – guitar
Johan Erkenvåg – bass
Dadde Stark – drums
https://www.instagram.com/wolfbrigadeofficial
https://www.facebook.com/lycanthropunks
https://www.metalblade.com
https://www.facebook.com/metalbladerecord
https://www.instagram.com/metalbladerecords
https://x.com/MetalBlade
https://www.metalblade.com/museum