Album Review: Wolfmother - 'Cosmic Egg'

When someone mentions Wolfmother, I cannot help but be reminded of the now infamous YouTube clip, where Faith No More’s Mike Patton expresses his genuine dislike of Wolfmother’s music (If you haven’t seen it, check it out here).

I wish I could say that since the integration of new and different band members, their sound has matured and grown, but I can’t help but feel that every copy of this CD should be sold with a tattered denim jacket and bag of cheap weed.

I’m not saying that all Wolfmother is bad, ‘Joker and the Thief’ was a pretty good song, along with ‘Vagabond’ – but Cosmic Egg is a disappointment.

Though they’ve slightly toned down their Zepplin emulations, they’re now trying to channel and reference every other great band in history – and not in a good way.

Andrew Stockdale described the making of Cosmic Egg as an endurance test, unfortunately, the same can be said about listening to it.

I cannot put it more eloquently then this individual did:

“At first the record’s more-is-more pile-up of slamming guitars and histrionic vocals is indeed meaty, helped by Stockdale’s exuberant talent as a guitarist. But by the end of the twelfth and final track (more if you’re a vinyl fan and/or masochist) you've been served the same dish so many times it’s like eating Christmas leftovers in January: familiar, stale and slightly depressing.”

And it is exactly that. There is almost no variety or difference, just the same heavy Zepplin-esque guitar tone, and the ear-deafening vocals of Stockdale.

However, there are few tantalizing moments where Wolfmother have tried something different. In the Morning begins as a dreamy, Beatles-y trance, while Far Away announces itself with sweetly chiming guitar, but both soon lose themselves in a blizzard of complex overkill.

An artist should always be asking themselves two things: Did I/we improve? Did I/we do something new? Cosmic Egg does neither of these things.

1. California Queen

2. New Moon Rising

3. White Feather

4. Sundial

5. In The Morning

6. 10,000 Feet

7. Cosmic Egg

8. Far Away

9. Pilgrim

10. In The Castle

11. Phoenix

12. Violence Of The Sun