The Family Rain - Under The Volcano (Album Review)
Monday, 17 February 2014
Written by Ryan Crittenden
'Under The Volcano' is the debut LP from the Family Rain, also known as the Walter brothers, Will, Ollie and Tim, and its objectives are clear from the first note: this is a British blues rock album.
Throughout, the Family Rain pull no punches, having cut their teeth on the road with the likes of Jake Bugg and Miles Kane, and the opening track, Carnival, is in your face and arrives complete with frantic guitar riffs and whooping backing vocals.
Elements of Arctic Monkeys’ sound can be identified on Reason To Die, while Will Walter’s vocals recall Nathan Willett of Cold War Kids fame, only with a little extra English grit, on Trust Me... I'm A Genius.
Feel Better (FRANK), a recent single, and Binocular are stand outs, with nagging melodies and big singalong choruses, particularly on the latter track.
But, the problem with producing an album as straightforward in its approach as ‘Under The Volcano’ is that it grows stale despite the swagger of its delivery.
There is no doubting the effectiveness of the heavy guitar licks and big basslines that dominate the record, but the formulaic approach runs thin as you approach track 10.
The pace of the album is quite relentless, but when the Family Rain do slow things down, with the intro and outro to Together, there are flashes of the variation that the band could offer. As it is, this bluesy workout harks back to British indie-rock of the last decade and it is difficult to see it making too much of an impression.
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