Riverboat Gamblers - The Wolf You Feed
- Written by Alex Ward
Riverboat Gamblers are back with their high energetic punk. Three years since their release of their album Underneath the Owl, the band have pulled out all the stops. This is the first record I have heard from the band and from the moment you press play your blown away.
Track one ‘Good Veins’ is a thumping song similar to Queens of the Stone Age and puts you in the mood to mosh around the room. The album in itself is very hard thumping. This tone continues in track two ‘ Bite my Tongue’ with its quick picking riffs. Track three however is different - ‘Comedians’ reminds me of a hard version of The Smiths blended with vocals from Joe Strummer and guitar playing straight off London Calling.
But that’s really the only slower paced song on The Wolf You Feed. Track 4 ‘Soliloquy’ is hard rock very similar to The Hives. Track 5 ‘Gallows Bird’ has an Iggy Pop feel, which I can only guess is a band inspiration as ‘Loser Neck’ sounds a lot like the Iggy and his Stooges. Apart from its energy, the good thing about the LP is how many correlations you can make between the songs and what bands influenced them. For example, Track 6 ‘Blue Ghosts’ sounds a lot again like The Clash with its quick strumming punk. Track 7 ‘Hear Condition’ is hard to put your finger out but by George finally they have it… They have created their own sound. It sounds strangely like a harder kind of indie rock.
The only weak link on the album is 'Dead Eyes' - River Boat Gamblers just can’t pull off softer rock and it just doesn’t work for them. But I can’t complain that the end of the album is stunning - ‘Eviction Notice’ is hard to describe but is just worth the listen. And now that I have popped my Riverboat Gamblers cherry I can’t wait for more.