ALBUM REVIEW: Torpedo – Feeder

When you’re nearly three decades and 11 albums deep into your career, you’d be forgiven for phoning it in. So many bands these days are taking trips down memory lane, commodifying nostalgia at an attempt to remain credible, yet so few manage to climb the mountain whilst the majority fall from grace.

And then there’s FEEDER. Arguably the underdogs of the early-00s post-britpop movement, the duo of Grant Nicholas and Taka Hirose have continued to captivate audiences with a trio of albums that have struck such a chord creatively; they’re experiencing a late-career renaissance. Whilst their peers continue to play it safe, on their 11th album Torpedo, FEEDER trade in the chart-defying power-pop-meets-college-rock of Tallulah in favour of soaring choruses, meteoric alt-rock, and gritty, grungy, post brit-pop that harks back to their good old days, without ever sounding like it’s songs saved for a rainy day.

Opener The Healing is a six-minute scene-setter that paints the album’s post-pandemic picture. THE VERVE-esque strings playfully dance with the pitter-patter of piano, like light peeking through the gaps in your curtains at the crack of dawn, before gentle strumming serenades the track as modern-era COLDPLAY choruses that sing of coming together burst into a rampage of apocalyptic riffs – the kind of pummelling rhythm section that ROYAL BLOOD would rock up to arenas with. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg of what FEEDER have to offer here.

When It All Breaks Down breathes new life into their alt-rock attack, shifting gear into dream-pop territory before slamming down into riffs that roll out like sledgehammers. When its chorus pops off, it sends you spiralling back to classic FEEDER hits. And then there’s the industrial, jet-plane psych-rock of Magpie which moves between grooves like THE BLACK KEYS on speed, whilst Decompress winds itself up like a ripchord, blasting out riffs like a Beyblade spinning off into the kind of chorus you can’t help but chant word-for-word. And in Born To Love You, FEEDER have written their biggest hit in over a decade; an infectious dose of love in real time. 

Whilst you’ll catch yourself nodding your head and singing along to every song, it’s safe to say FEEDER aren’t reinventing the wheel with Torpedo. And like any act hitting double-digits in the album department, it comes with plenty of its own peaks and troughs. Downtuned, deep-dish basslines and isolated riffs bury Slow Strings under a long-suffering avalanche of Noel Gallagher-gesturing psych-pop that plunders along, Submission’s simmering britpop bonanza slowly slips itself into submission, and the title track feels far too much like a standard FEEDER staple, as gung-ho riffs go toe-to-toe with choruses that tow the line of riding the sonic highway, like they’re phoning it in for a minute.

Thank God then, that the filler is few and far between in comparison to the killer. Of course, there’s more to Torpedo than its musical muscle. It’s an album born out of the pandemic, and one that wouldn’t exist without it. Nicholas had penned nearly an album’s worth of tracks pre-COVID, but shelved the songs in favour of new ones he felt inspired to churn out. The result is a walk through the anxiety-inducing, day-to-day drivel of living in a world losing its own identity as a pandemic continues to imprison us. But more importantly, it juxtaposes the dark with the light, promising a better place to be, if only we can channel a little positivity. Take Wall Of Silence for example; a track that feels like the audible equivalent of injecting liquid adrenaline into your veins, sending you headbanging into oblivion but leaving you with the sobering thought of change: “what have we become? Living up in our heads, shutting out the morning sun.” These poetic reflections push your mind’s limits, and sit masterfully next to simpler, less subtle suggestions, as on Born To Love You when Nicholas softly begs us to “settle down, let’s make the most of living.”

Like Tallulah before it, Torpedo is yet another triumphant victory lap for a band who’ve endured their fair share of trials and tribulations. Whilst so many of their peers play it safe, churning out middle-of-the-road nostalgia, FEEDER continue to pay tribute to their past whilst creating their future. Simply put, Torpedo is the sound of a British institution doing what it does best: bringing absolute bangers to our bedrooms. 

Rating: 8/10

Torpedo is set for release on March 18th via Big Teeth Music.

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