Album Review: Feed The Rhino – The Burning Sons

It’s pretty apt that these Medway beasts, from Kent, UK, have a song lurking on their new album, the lead single release from it, that is entitled “Left For Ruins”, because that’s pretty much how you’re meant to feel after you’ve witnessed their live show. I’ve felt it and I’m pretty sure there must be plenty who are there with me by now; they seem to be a non-stop touring machine. Quite where they found the time to squeeze out this sophomore album is a wonder and that’s exactly why I’m worried about it.

It’s been said before, but the well-known industry term, “difficult second album”, is a phrase that so often rings true. A band’s first long-player has usually been pieced together over several years, fine-tuned in the pubs and clubs, before the band hit the recording studio. That second effort, whilst they’re stampeding through the wonders of their biggest ever tours, has to be whipped up at a moment’s notice with a label monkey constantly riding their back. So have Feed The Rhino managed to lay waste to venues, ignore the hype and the pressure, and found time to write another marvel to sit alongside their crushing debut, Mr. Red Eye?

Well, let’s give The Burning Sons a good going over. First up, be aware that this thing charges at you every bit as hard as their debut did – at least initially. Opener “Flood The System” is a heads-down trampling machine whilst “Nothing Lost” is a sharp dig in the ribs, followed by a swift karate chop to the windpipe. Both display hints at the condensed riffing and rapid stick-shifting to follow, but the lyrics counterbalance this structural two-step by burning with a direct intensity – from the effectively simple “We won’t stop, won’t stop, no we won’t stop” to the looped, gang-blasted mantra of “Now you’re lost, now you’re lost”. Wonderfully, the sharp-tongue of “Kings Of Grand Delusion” finishes off what the title-track promises to do, yet doesn’t – the latter may be a thundering mood piece that paws the ground and paces in circles around you, but it never fully switches up to attack mode.

If you’re looking for highlights they come when the band fully hit their stride. “I Am The Curse, I Am The Cure” and “Song Of Failure” (you’ll scream yourself hoarse at “We fought, we lost, we tore ourselves apart”) both find a neck-snapping groove; a new dimension of power that comes interlaced with some truly crushing riffs. “Razor” and “Tides” are, naturally, the watering holes in this parched savannah. The gently-plucking Soundgarden meets Foo Fighters-esque drift of “Razor” and the piano-led “Tides” are sweetly-sung, melodic beauties; the latter’s softer belly is threaded with a subtle, darkly euphoric brooding that changes tack to explode in a shower of caterwauling; a deliberate, affected sound strongly reminiscent of Mr Red Eye‘s exploratory dips into the reverb-heavy gloom.

Feed The Rhino have shifted weight here; rather than focussing on the swaggering hardball tactics of bands like Gallows, Hexes and Heights, they have inveigled this passion with the bleaker neuroses of While She Sleeps, Ghost Of A Thousand and Hundredth. It’s punked-up, hardcore-pitched rock that glues its chaos to your cortex. Yes, unsurprisingly, with so much going on in such a tight space, there are tracks that miss the mark, songs that feel shorn of the same layered potential as their neighbors. “Fountains”, “The Compass” and that initial taster, “Left For Ruins”, all come up some way short, but gurning blasters like “Death Of The Swine” should settle the stomachs of any fans who bought into the grittier tones or rougher mix of their debut.

So let’s recap. This band have not only delivered a solid batch of fresh tracks here, they’ve found time to fine-tune their sound to one that retains their penchant for graft and power, whilst adding both precision and grace. “Difficult second album”, my ass. It’s time to Feed The Rhino, my friends because, on this evidence, the longer you wait the hungrier he gets, the more likely it is that he’ll bite your whole sodding arm off.

Also online @ The NewReview =  http://thenewreview.net/reviews/feed-the-rhino-the-burning-sons

Gig Review: Feed The Rhino - Cambridge, 26/9/11

The last time I saw Feed The Rhino, a few months back on the UK leg of the Sonisphere Festival, they were, there’s no easy way to say this, putting such major acts as Slipknot and Metallica to shame by proving that standing, posing and strolling are no comparison to clambering, hustling and stage-diving. I’m trying to picture just how their usual display of maniacal fervor will go down in this tiny club (that’s a capacity of 80, folks) and it’s causing me, and most of the mortals present, to drool at the prospect.

There’s three decent warm-up acts on first tonight so there’s plenty of food for thought while we wait. Local act The Temptress (3.5 out of 5) are battling the half-empty gig room by staging their own mini dance-floor invasion. The songs are chaotic, but effective and so my only real criticism is that frontman Remi Marcel Jermy is blasting his malevolence down at his feet rather than out into our faces. Hopefully, they’ll nail down a bit more confidence as they progress and then songs like the excellent “Jack” will really leave a mark.

The odd one out here was always going to be Cambridge’s Unit 9 (3 out of 5) who, you could argue, are the only band not to dabble in hardcore. Instead they play hammering, blues-led swamp rock and sound, in turns, like Down, Black Label Society and Alice In Chains. Although “Dirty Sanchez” loses power in the chorus due to a spot of quirky offbeat drumming, “Tear It Down” goes a long way to making amends, drawing a fine reaction from the rapidly expanding, clearly open-minded crowd.

Main tour support comes from Heights (4 out of 5) who fire out a remorseless combo of slow, methodical beats and overlay it with barbed anthems which are gang-chanted in waves. “Forget”, in particularly, stands out with each word screamed out with hostile menace – “The sun will rise / And the time will pass / And I’ll forget you / I will forget you”. By the end, frontman Thomas Debaeres is getting mobbed so often he opts to retreat to a point of safety whilst the lead guitarist mounts the flimsy folding merch table, trampling CDs as he goes, in an attempt to bait the crowd further. The one image I’ll take away from it all, burnt onto the inside of my retinas, is of the bassist, all staring bug-eyes and bleeding gums, impotently mouthing the words to every goddamn song.

Feed The Rhino (4 out of 5) are in our faces from the start. Bearded frontman Lee Tobin leads the charge, but the Colley brothers and bassist Oz Craggs aren’t far behind, bonding with their disciples by means of raised guitars and mouthed lyrics; often just the odd nod is enough to get a reaction. New track “Knives” gets an early airing and pours fuel on simmering flames with all eyes now on Tobin as he falls to his knees to try and wring every last drop of energy out of his body. Thankfully, he’s up quickly to proffer the gift of an, as yet, unreleased song, and the bulldozing “Transistor Down”. The latter comes with an extra long, bassy build allowing for Tobin to mount the dangerously rickety, double-stacked PA to his left so he can really prime the crowd to full effect. No-one riles an audience like him and all his cajoling allows for a frothing collective to form; almost enough to catch him as he crazily leaps. The combination of height and weight was always going to take them down, but those who are left sprawling are quickly hauled back to their feet grinning like idiots.

From here on they lose a little of their intensity, almost as if they’ve misjudged just how hot the venue gets. Still, with the band constantly conferring to gauge each other’s impression of the show and thumbs going up, our bearded hero is soon chiming in to reward the audience with what they want to hear – the cheesy, yet clearly heartfelt “Tonight’s show has blown our minds and we’ll be coming back to Cambridge real soon.” He proceeds by teasing us with what he calls a “last song” but acquiesces to a couple extra when cries to the tune of “It’s only half-ten!” ring out. The band’s response is for one last big push and Tobin sets about organising the night’s first decent circle pit, two walls of death and a stage invasion for a crushing rendition of “Caller Of The Town”.

Despite everything, it still feels like there’s something missing from their performance – perhaps it’s the proximity of the four walls which has restricted their efforts. The band still predictably, yet exultantly, launch themselves into the crowd and manage to leave us with that delightfully disarming sense of loss and confusion that follows such mania when the banality of normality all too quickly resumes.

Also online (with more photos) @ The NewReview = http://thenewreview.net/show-reviews/feed-the-rhino-cambridge-uk