Music Review: Wolfmother

I mentioned this band a few months ago as the greatest thing to come out of Australia since kangaroos or something, but I wish now to make ammendments to that statement.

They are almost the greatest thing to come out of Australia in a while.
Today is the release date of Wolfmother's first full-length album in the U.S.
If my information serves me correctly, they've already had one release overseas, which received warm reviews. This U.S. release is a lot of reassembled materials from that first album, plus a few tunes from their already released EP.

Now that we've covered their history, its safe to say that Wolfmother is still a relatively new band. We're not talking about a band that has had three albums cut already. This is why I have great expectations for Wolfmother in future years. I expect their songwriting to only improve and their music to gain depth and breadth.
This is a fun, easy to listen to taste of retro-rock, but all of this is said to imply that this album falls short on a few key areas. Mostly, that of creativity and exploration.

Wolfmother has a built-in fan base by choosing to make music in a style alike Black Sabbath or the Who or Led Zeppelin or any other number of bands that have enjoyed a resurgence in popularity in recent years (partially due to crummy contemporary music, and partially because everyone's been wearing Stones' t-shirts, someone finally decided they should actually know what their music sounded like.)
This being the current trend, Wolfmother could very easily play off as opportunistic and kitschy if they're not careful.
The problem with this album is that the songs don't show the musicians actually having any fun with what they're doing. The songs all sound formulaic and scripted. It's a fun ride, but in another year or so, I doubt many people will be listening to this, simply because its not that creative or interesting.
I will look forward to their next release. If the trio is going to stretch it legs at all, this will be their opportunity to show us what they're capable of. But if they stick with the reciepe-for-success formula, watch their album end up in the $5.99 bins within 12 months.

Final Grade: Catchy, bubble-gum rock with no bitter after-taste: B