These days the hard rock posturing and sometimes psych of Australia’s Wolfmother is the sole responsibility of front man and figurehead Andrew Stockdale. Augmented by only one other full time band member, bassist and keyboardist Ian Peres, for better or worse “Victorious” finds Stockdale steering the ship as sole songwriter, singer and guitarist on deck. Not three years ago Stockdale dropped the Wolfmother moniker completely choosing instead to use his own name after endless replacements of rapidly exiting band mates only to return to it shortly thereafter. There is nothing new on this album to dissuade the haters from believing that the derivative nature of Stockdale’s ways are about to change any time soon. Still, if it’s anthemic, mindless, hard driving, riff bashing rock you want Wolfmother’s 4th will do just nicely.
Key tracks: Victorious, Simple Life, Best Of A Bad Situation
