Sorry about this late arrival, but Crobot’s ‘Motherbrain’ is one of those albums that I’ve been enjoying so much over the last few weeks that I’ve not actually got round to writing a review until it dawned on me that it’s actually out today! The good news is that like with ‘Something Supernatural and ‘Welcome to Fat City’ before it ‘Motherbrain’ is another strong contender for one of the best albums you’ll hear this year.
Getting stuck right in then, opener ‘Burn’ is a rollicking rocker with deep groove and kicks things off nicely before ‘Keep Me Down’ chugs to life then smashes out a huge riff and ‘Drown’ opens heavy then rolls into a huge groove that really showcase what has always been one of Crobot’s real strengths – the vocal.
On an album that just keep son giving there’s no chinks in the armour: single ‘Low Life’ is heavy and funky and connects immediately and ‘Alfa Dog’ gets all Bluesy and ‘Soundgardeny‘. It’s all further confirmation that the essence of Crobot is that of a ‘live’ band and these new songs are gonna sound ‘huge’ live
‘Stoning the Devil’ continues to put the front foot forward, this time there’s a real sense of everything coming together to form the perfect storm, it’s one of the very best here. ‘Gasoline’ continues the ass-kicking hard rocking and ‘Destroyer’ takes the mood down a little before bursting into life.
Deeper still the muscular ‘Black Out’ is another that really stands out and ticks all the boxes and ‘After Life’ ensures we’re going out in style with an infectious chorus before closer ‘The Hive’ shows just what this band can do in creating light and shade, its a song full of atmospherics, cut through with that heavier guitar sound and made to bang that head to.
This album is just more of everything that Crobot have done so well in the past – more guitar, more heavy riffage, more blues, more funk, more attitude. It’s unmissable.