Glorious Wolf - Mysterious Traveler - 2023
“... a Dutch studio project by Ruud Dielen ...”
intro
Glorious Wolf is a Dutch studio project by Ruud Dielen. It is a project to express his love for the symphonic, psychedelic & progressive rock of the 70s. After the digital album "Aquarius" (2017) and the first physical album "Zodiac" (2019), Glorious Wolf now releases the album "Mysterious Traveler" (2023). The physical version of the album is available as a digipak with beautiful artwork by Ed Unitsky. The album's theme is about transforming the world we live in now. The agitation/unrest, wars and climate change force us to think more carefully about how we treat each other and mother Earth. Except for the drum parts, which were played by Kike Paglia, all instruments were played by Ruud Dielen himself. Three of the seven songs feature vocals. These were provided by vocalists Celia van Onna and Frank van der Borg.
Ruud Dielen - Electric and Acoustic steel & nylon string guitars, Electric bass & Fretless bass, Ebow & Slide guitar, Arturia virtual vintage keyboards, Gforce Mellotron, voice and percussion / Recording & Sound Engineer
Kike Paglia - drums; Celia van Onna - lyrics, lead & harmony vocals on "The True Story", "Beautifully Broken" and "Slow Down"; Frank van der Borg - lyrics, lead & harmony vocals on "Repentance"
review
The symphonic, psychedelic & progressive rock music from the 70s is musically the source of inspiration for "Mysterious Traveler". The supplied information sheet comes as usual with a list of band names (name dropping). As a reviewer I have been used to that over the years. But because I don't want to give you (as a reader of progVision's reviews) the wrong expectations, I deliberately do not copy this list. The fact that Ruud Dielen previously played in various (blues) rock and experimental bands is also reflected in the music. The musical palette is therefore much broader than just the inspiration from symphonic, psychedelic & progressive rock from the 70s.
The album opens with the song "Repentance", the song sung by vocalist Frank van der Borg. What strikes me first as a listener is that the instruments, and especially the electric guitar, are recorded very raw and the mix is very "into your face". This conscious choice emphasizes the rock and blues influences. There is a small part with vocal choirs and Pink Floyd-like guitar sounds. But for me this opener is really more of a raw song with rock and blues as musical inspiration. To a lesser extent this also applies to the next song "Slow Down". In the first minutes you hear a lot of raw (rock) guitars and organ parts. I am more fond of the nice bass and drum parts that you can find on this album. This is followed by another section inspired by Pink Floyd. For me it only becomes really interesting when the synths get more attention. You now also understand the title of the song better, indeed this song contains nice Camel influences. "The True Story" is one of the two songs in which vocalist Celia van Onna provides the vocals. The music is much more varied, also due to the instrumentation, than the first two tracks. The beautiful rhythm section is clearly audible due to the transparent mix. A wonderfully relaxed fretless bass and good drumming. The keyboard orchestrations also stand out in a positive way. This wonderful track has a slightly slower tempo. In "Howling at the Moon" the raw guitars are back. These rock and blues influences are now combined with full keyboard and Mellotron strings. A song that gives mixed feelings to your reviewer. In "Mysterious Traveler", which has a quiet and mysterious character, you can find beautiful spacy guitar parts. In "Battlefield" the uptempo rock pieces alternate with beautiful synth and melodic guitar work. This gives the music much more variety. For me personally this is one of the better tracks on this album. But the most beautiful (vocal) melodies have been saved for the last track. The album comes to an end with the song "Beautifully Broken (Part 1 & 2)". In Part 1, vocalist Celia van Onna shows off her qualities as a vocalist. Part 2 has a nice calm structure and you can first enjoy beautiful melodic guitar work before slowly working towards a climax with a somewhat freaky guitar solo. It's a nice ending of a good album.
conclusion
If, in addition to progressive rock music, you are also charmed by raw guitars with rock and blues influences, then "Mysterious Traveler" by Glorious Wolf is definitely for you. But it is of course best to first listen via Glorious Wolf's BandCamp channel or the other streaming services. I even found the album on the Qobuz platform. For me personally, there are a bit too many rock and blues influences in Ruud Dielen's music. But tastes differ, so check it out for yourself.