wolfmother
summary : 3 piece australian band give it the full on 70's psychedlic hard rock revival a complete going over. world look out.
obviously, this is a not a new cutting edge album, nor is the concept new, as here in the uk we have recently had the joys of the darkness reliving the 80's pomp rock, so why on earth shouldn't we get some cool kids digging into their big brothers black sabbath back catalogue and letting rip. across the albums 13 tracks, uk release gets bonus track, 'love train', every genre trademark is driven out into your speakers loud and proud. cos everything on this album is loud, the drums, the guitars, the bass. even the jethro tull-esque flute solo is large.
so, while the lads struggle to form a headspinning melody from time to time, and the lyrics dip into the well trodden path of rock music cliche (did i really hear 'purple haze is in the sky' during the album opener !?) the sound is so big and brash, you cannot help but be swept along by the sheer aural force. that's not to say that there aren't some great tracks on offer, there are, singles ´dimension´ and ´woman´ being prime examples of when they are good, they are really fucking good. it's just that the lack of overall variety can make the album hard going when not in the right mood. oh, and lets not forget the appearance of such chucklesome additions as the aforementioned flute solo and the perfectly times rick wakeman keyboard solo, that surely the band realise that people of a certain age are going to either hate the rip off nature or laugh out loud.
as for me, i care not for the accusations of the band magpie attitude, (hey dj shadow et al do it via turntables, why cant a rock band do it with guitars?), instead, i just wish i could grow my hair long, get a few muscle ripping tatoos and rock out like a hard assed mofo that music like this requires.
finishing summary : play loud