WOLFMOTHER: Wolfmother (HARD ROCK): review / opinion to read on Music Waves

Wolfmother had its little success with this first self-titled release. Album of the month in many magazines, the band managed to make a name for itself for a while. Since then, line-up changes and the inoffensive nature of a second album that was far too long did not allow Wolfmother to concretize the hopes placed in them.

In the meantime, the first album has not aged a bit. The band works in an openly nostalgic hard rock. One thinks of Led Zeppelin for the bluesy and heartbreaking vocals, of Black Sabbath for the heavy side and the groove of the riffs, but especially of Thin Lizzy for the punchy side and the songwriting. The album sometimes ventures on the tracks of an energetic and clear punk, just by small touches and presents an energetic use of 70' keyboards (organ à la Deep Purple or Uriah Heep). A constant effort is made on the vocal lines and on the relevance of the song's elements which are not there to justify a standard of construction (there are for example no or few soli).

Another enjoyable element comes from the construction of the album. By keeping a certain alternation so as never to drown the listener in a deluge of riffs or to put him to sleep by chaining ballads, the album starts from classic hard rock to evolve towards other genres as the journey goes on without it seeming out of place. The variations are sometimes on the tempos ('Dimension'), with acoustic lulls ('Where Eagles Have Been') or riff outbursts ('Joker & The Thief'). On 'Tales', a slow, hypnotic opening leads to an acid guitar that gives the song a jolt. The listener arrives on the last track on a bouncy folk piece, absolutely delicious, in the tradition of Led Zeppelin (on III) which degenerates with noisy guitars to end in a controlled chaos a la Neil Young.

Of the thirteen tracks on this "Wolfmother", none is dispensable nor stretches beyond what's necessary, while keeping a richness that reminds a lot of Thin Lizzy's approach. So album of the month, of the year or of the century, the first Wolfmother remains above all an unwearable record, a bubble of freshness in the aseptic world of current hard rock. - Official website

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AUTRE LABEL

HARD ROCK