TURBOWOLF: The Free Life (ALTERNATIVE ROCK): review / opinion to read on Music Waves

Alternative rock? Punk rock ? Stoner ? We're not sure what label to put on Turbowolf. Apart from the fact that this difficulty is to their credit, one thing is certain though: the English are unlike any other band, forging a style that ultimately belongs only to them. They certainly share with the Eagles Of Death Metal the same cool and filthy energy at the same time, but their British origin gives their rock a kind of offbeat madness, a fuzzy colouring that distinguishes them from the Americans.

Still little known despite a first interesting record, the British offer with "The Free Life" the chance to remedy this shortcoming. Those who will discover them with this third album will be happy to find a band with an unbridled inspiration where acidulous vocals, roaring rhythmics and twisted guitar drunk with wah-wah pedals are mixed together without it being always easy to clearly distinguish each instrument. Honouring its name, Turbowolf plays its cheerful, over-charged music with frenzy, printing out a frenzied groove on more worked-out pieces than it seems.

Here lies the quartet's main talent - and singularity - in this studied spontaneity which does not prevent a plethora of ideas and arrangements. The result is very short compositions (rarely more than four minutes) that overflow from everywhere. But, compared to its sometimes clumsy if not unfinished predecessor, "The Free Life" shows an inspiration which this time, never slows down, a thicker and more diversified offering, sometimes almost pop ('Concluder', 'Halfsecret') but always crispy ('Domino', 'Last Three Clues').

Carried away by a heavy torrent of fever, like on 'Very Bad', 'Blackhole' or even 'Capital X', there is nothing to throw away from a menu that sweats urgency through every pore but to which the keyboards confer a consistency as explosive as it is bewitching. The most curious track remains the long eponymous piece with a popifying chorus that is shaked by multiple changes of frenetic and rough features. A ramshackle organ and screaming guitar bring its end to the limits of a swirling madness.

Turbowolf is a real Rock band with a big R, author of a unique recipe, both sweet and uncomplexed, which finds in "The Free Life" its most accomplished and jubilant interpretation. - Official website

TURBOWOLF

THE FREE LIFE

AUTRE LABEL

ALTERNATIVE ROCK