With a name like Hounds of the Wild Hunt and an album titled “El Mago,” it’s hard to know exactly what you’re going to get before you listen to this Seattle band’s first full-length record. Thoughts of folky, beard-inspired harmonies and rich guitar sounds whizzed around curiously in my head. Yet visions of a hardcore band looking to tear someone’s face off at every chord change circled in my mind as well. Or, “Maybe it’s going to be a pop album,” I thought. What I found out: with Hounds of the Wild Hunt, it’s all of the above, which is exactly why this album, over a year in the making, stands out as something unique and a blast to listen to.

The album’s first track “Judas Goat” draws your ears’ attention beautifully with a soft, crunchy guitar part, followed by a group of vocals that help usher the song higher and higher up the dynamic range, leaving the listener ready for the intense energy that this album is saturated with. It’s a pleasure to be barraged by the diversity each song offers on “El Mago,” with the rolling groove and heavy drums that lead one’s feet tot ap on my personal favorite track “Crooked” to the gypsy polka rock song “A Walk to Remember” to the folky, punk ballad “Courage” and the grab your best friend and a beer anthem of “Ragged All Week.” Though each song varies in style, each is linked in a cohesive glue of gang vocals and a kind of punk rock aura in the singing that makes you feel like you’re in an overcrowded, reeking of beer and sweat, punk venue, but like when you were fifteen when that shit was the greatest thing you’ve ever been apart of, so it’s cool.

There’s an appeal to both the clarity and a lo-fi sound on the record, which allows for everything to be heard perfectly, yet at same time giving it the live texture and energy that makes for a very tasty music experience.

If you dig The Pixies’ spacious instrumentation, Andrew Jackson Jihad’s straight ahead vocal cadences, and the strange, fist pumping rock of Modest Mouse, then you have yourself a sure bet with Hounds of The Wild Hunt and their new album “EL Mago.” See a video preview HERE.

This new record, which was released on August 3rd at Columbia City Theater and can be streamed at www.houndsofthewildhunt.com, scores a “R-W-A-K” on the “R-A-W-K-D” scale. The band plays next at The Tractor Tavern on September 28th, opening for legendary bassist Mike Watt.

-Dominic Cortese, Music Writer, The Monarch Review