For those that don’t know Mammoth WVH is Wolfgang Van Halen’s band. The name is a nod to Van Halen’s original name Mammoth.

Want to see an example of what’s wrong with social media? It’s all of the jealous pieces of crap that keep bombarding Wolfgang with troll comments. Chances are most of those harassing him have never picked up an instrument. Is he honestly supposed to apologize for being Eddie’s son or Alex’s nephew? That’s beyond stupid.

Also, for those butthurt over Michael Anthony not being involved in the tours Wolfgang was a part of, here were your options, A) no Van Halen, or B) Van Halen with Wolfgang. Which do you prefer? “Well I want Michael” sorry, the options were A or B, there was no fill in the blanks.

Regardless what Wolfgang does, this album isn’t going to please everyone. There are people that will say “why doesn’t it sound like Van Halen” and others that will say “it sounds too much like Van Halen”. He’s essentially doing everything on the album. He’s playing all of the instruments on the album and handling all of the vocals.

He has gone out of his way to make this album his own, and I applaud him for that. It’s a mix of a modern sounding album, with some throw backs to hard rock of the last five decades. There are times where you can point out and say this sounds like it was influenced by the 90s, other tracks by the 70s, etc. There is more Collective Soul, Foo Fighters and Alter Bridge in this album, or vocal cadences that sound similar to those of The Beatles than Van Halen.

The closest you’ll get to VH is perhaps some of the solos. But again, he’s made a point to not be too bombastic or over the top with the solos. Let’s also remember that VH did release albums during the Hagar years that were closer to radio rock, than to the ground breaking music they did during the David Lee Roth years. So what Wolfgang is doing here doesn’t stray that far from what his family has done in the past.

It is a solid album top to bottom. There is nothing new or revolutionary being presented here, but it is enjoyable nonetheless.

With this album become a substitute for Fair Warning this weekend? I highly doubt it, but could this turn some kids onto A Different Kind Of Truth, and then his family’s back catalog? Yeah, there’s a good chance of that.