Wolfmother - Victorious 

     Years ago rock was an energetic, multifaceted form that just moved you, high energy, in your face with little or no apology or quarter , just raw in other words.  It’s a sound thought long gone, but that doesn’t appear to be a permanent condition and will be reversed  come February 19th. That’s the drop date for the new Wolfmother album, Victorious.    Wolfmother is going on tour soon and they’ll be by DFW for a live show.  Wolfmother has historically operated as a band and has had a lot of success doing so since debut and signing to Universal.  Victorious pretty much changes the method of operation, with many of the tracks conceived and played by Andrew Stockdale with percussion handled by Josh Freese and Joey Waronker.  Artists do this sometimes, but Andrew’s vision churns with influences of many bands pasts- All the good ones, like Hendrix, UFO, Iron Butterfly, Steppenwolf, The Doors, Deep Purple, the Beatles, and countless others.

    The album rocks, guitar and drum driven sound ready to take you back in a way only the old style rock can, using the artistry that surrounded all the songs we know and loved over the years. There are ballads too, a long abandoned tradition on rock albums, but they’re true. This may have been the problem all along with most of today's’ rock – No heart. Wolfmother fixes that, every track here is a return to The Religion of Rock.

    Rip into City Lights or Gypsy Caravan and be amazed at the new recollection. For just a second you can hear the Beatle “Helter Skelter” in it, then once the chorus line is hit you can pick up on some Deep Purple influence as the Caravan moves on to a faster tempo. One minute it’s Ozzy, the next it’s the Who, but it’s all original.

    Victorious’ title track will kick you in your complacency.  The chorus harmonies are great, and in everything Wolfmother does is the beat between the drums and the guitars, ripping the beat back and forth and then drops into a line about giving up (wait for it) and then the guitars are right back, blasting Sabbath!  

   Best of a Bad Situation is another great tune, everything here is immediately accessible in that you can pick it up and run with it. Albums you can pick up and have fun with are few and far between these days, and it figures it would take Australia to export the smoking hot tunes found on Wolfmother’s new album Victorious. 

   Every song on this album will melt your face. Pick up a copy, or download it, and have a listen once it drops on the 19th of February.  If you do not like this, and want to make the show later this spring, I suspect you may be dead.

Chris Br