Feeder departed the more mellow and acoustic influences on their 2008 album “Silent Cry”. With the first of two releases in 2010, “Renegades” continues down that path. Yet it is different, it is faster-paced and post-grunge influences are more apparent than on “Silent Cry”. The album fares well on its intensity and strong energy and may very well lead Feeder to gain renewed popularity.
Yet when we look at it musically it doesn’t display the band’s variety and creativity as shown on albums like “Yesterday Went Too Soon”, “Echo Park” and “Comfort In Sound”. With “Renegades” they are closer to the straight forward garage rock displayed by bands like Foo Fighters, Puddle of Mudd & Velvet Revolver. It’s good, but the moments of excellence in the songwriting and especially in the build up of their previous songs is harder to find. It’s there at some points, like on the slightly more alternative This Town or the spunky Left Foot Right, and also on the more emotive, slower-paced Down To The River, which immediately sounds more like a classic Feeder song.
Where Feeder was the alternative rock band from the UK that stood out among all the similar-sounding bands, it seems that Fiction Plane is now the heir to that throne. With “Renegades”, Feeder delivers a solid album, a good album even, in quality it ranks among the better albums of the year, but it’s not very surprising or intriguing as was the case with their previous albums. You do have to commend the band on trying something now, trying to push the boundaries. And with the faded interest after “Silent Cry” at least they don’t try to release a pretentious album that’s bigger than they are. Instead they go back to basics and try to work their way up. In that aspect the album deserves some praise, as it’s done tastefully and once again Feeder shows to be a band that knows all about timing and cadence, as that is still from a world class level on each and every song. But that extra step, that they were able to make from the late 90s to the mid-2000s is missing a little. But since this is just the first release of two in the year, maybe the 2nd release holds some surprises.
Yet when we look at it musically it doesn’t display the band’s variety and creativity as shown on albums like “Yesterday Went Too Soon”, “Echo Park” and “Comfort In Sound”. With “Renegades” they are closer to the straight forward garage rock displayed by bands like Foo Fighters, Puddle of Mudd & Velvet Revolver. It’s good, but the moments of excellence in the songwriting and especially in the build up of their previous songs is harder to find. It’s there at some points, like on the slightly more alternative This Town or the spunky Left Foot Right, and also on the more emotive, slower-paced Down To The River, which immediately sounds more like a classic Feeder song.
Where Feeder was the alternative rock band from the UK that stood out among all the similar-sounding bands, it seems that Fiction Plane is now the heir to that throne. With “Renegades”, Feeder delivers a solid album, a good album even, in quality it ranks among the better albums of the year, but it’s not very surprising or intriguing as was the case with their previous albums. You do have to commend the band on trying something now, trying to push the boundaries. And with the faded interest after “Silent Cry” at least they don’t try to release a pretentious album that’s bigger than they are. Instead they go back to basics and try to work their way up. In that aspect the album deserves some praise, as it’s done tastefully and once again Feeder shows to be a band that knows all about timing and cadence, as that is still from a world class level on each and every song. But that extra step, that they were able to make from the late 90s to the mid-2000s is missing a little. But since this is just the first release of two in the year, maybe the 2nd release holds some surprises.