FEEDER

Black/Red (Big Teeth)

Feeder are back with a double album that continues from where their 2022 album Torpedo left off. Black/Red has 18 tracks connected by a ‘unity of sound’ – a sentiment that doesn’t prove as positive as it seems. The album begins with an otherworldly instrumental that takes the listener into Elf, whose sentiment about making a difference to the planet is delivered by the medium of cringeworthy rhyme.

After a gentle start the energy begins to pick up, and from track seven onwards the sound gets heavier. Musically, Feeder can’t be faulted – there are some great bass and synth riffs, and Grant Nicholas’ voice is as easy on the ears as it’s ever been – but the album treads very familiar ground and, in the words of The Knock (ironically the album’s most dynamic track), it “all sounds very familiar”. Black/Red has the typical Feeder style but desperately needs its own Buck Rogers moment. 

words LYNDA NASH