You can never quite know how to feel about Wolfmother. The nostalgic memories you might have about when they first exploded across the world is at odds with the disappointment of their subsequent implosion and feeble attempts to recapture the original magic.
Following up 2009’s miserable Cosmic Egg and 2014’s so-so New Crown comes their latest attempt, Victorious. Once more, though, the spark of their self-titled debut album eludes the band. Again, we have a grand, self-consuming creation from frontman Andrew Stockdale. Does that mean it’s bad? Apart from the awful attempt at a rock ballad, Pretty Peggy, this is not a bad album at all. If you like unapologetic rock’n’roll, then you’ll get along with Victorious just fine.
But if you are hoping for a little of that original Wolfmother magic, you won’t find it here. Wolfmother have simply become a Weekend At Bernie’s-style attempt to keep something alive that should be laid to rest. The tragedy is that Stockdale won’t give up, releasing music that neither succeeds or fails.
It isn’t great. It isn’t awful. It isn’t as good as it should be. And it just isn’t Wolfmother. Or, at least, not the one we once loved.
BY DANIEL PRIOR
