So what exactly was the impetus behind Feeder making a double album? It’s a bit above their pay-grade at this stage, as a first-gen Britrock band who’ve proven all they need to, and for whom predominantly trafficking in singles has been their forte for a while. Patchy albums have been buoyed by strong individual cuts, which an idea as uncharacteristically ambitious as this might be stretching beyond. A good recent run with Tallulah and Torpedo only foreshadows so much, especially when that band is as down-the-middle as Feeder. In terms of the effort required and the fact they’ve opted for this now, forget about being unexpected; this is borderline oxymoronic.
In truth, though, the reality is far less severe. Essentially, Black / Red is just another Feeder album, but longer. The pageantry of the whole ‘double album’ reputation is more than a bit lost, though maybe that isn’t a bad thing. Somehow, Feeder have managed to go on for 18 tracks with few significant dips or instances of filler, even if the highs aren’t exactly cracking the sky in their own right. This is still firmly in the ballpark of current-day Feeder—alt-rock devoid of flash or experimentation (even with the larger canvas the play with), but doing its best to make up through no-frills, rock-solid composition. Ergo, the fires started by Black / Red will be minimal, but that’s not to say some sparks and embers have been snuffed out completely. If anything, they stay more resilient than they have in a while.
And to be fair, it’s not like Feeder have omitted the notion of going bigger entirely. Strings and synth buzzes are the easy shortcuts to that, aligned with the rumbling guitar and bass of Sahara for more persistent, Manics-esque muscle, or bent into Muse-ian shape on Vultures or Submarine. Naturally, that’s about as adventurous as Feeder are willing to go, such are the restraints of Britrock of this vintage and where it’s bound to. If ‘bigger’ is to be addressed, it’s in a comfortable, reliable sense that’s easy to map onto what already was.
That caveat is stapled onto Black / Red at every turn, even seeping down to the very framework of what this project is. Perhaps the Black side—the first ‘disc’, if you want—can be a little darker and stormier, but it’s honestly negligible. Otherwise, there’s no grand swing at play that’d redefine Feeder this late in the game. Again, though, it’s hard to be too disappointed at that when the results pay off. This is Feeder operating at a sufficiently high level, even to the point of staving off most fatigue from an album this no-frills running for over an hour. You can credit songs like The Knock and Here Comes The Hurricane in that for an extra dose of punch in the hook-work, but there’s also the riff-rock of Vultures or Memory Loss that’s arguably the tidiest way for Feeder to keep up pace. It proves rather easy for them to acclimate to (even if a handful of the riffs in question feel cribbed wholesale from early Royal Blood), while remaining on rock’s straight-and-narrow unwaveringly.
As an older band now—don’t argue, they’ve been around for 30 years; they are—it’s as good a way as any to maintain some relevance when reinvention isn’t even a fleeting thought. The smoothened, untampered boundaries of rock remain preserved, with just enough touch-ups to keep the ravages of age away. It’s what Black / Red gets very right, as additional production touches remain eased back and in small capacities, but the boons they’ll provide are undoubtedly noticeable. The occasional beeps of synth define Hey You’s airy flow incredibly well; elsewhere, the ancillary threads of ELF and Unconditional (among plenty others) dial up the power a key notch more. Even in the obligatory well-intentioned saccharine of older, less cynical mindsets on Soldiers Of Love, the bagpipes and drum-corps percussion are at least something different.
Honestly, with the benefit of capped expectations that are practically mandatory for new albums in this vein, Black / Red actually has a decent amount to like. It’s still a bit shocking that Feeder managed to pull something like this off, where the retention of consistent quality can actually place them above acts more daring, but also more inclined to become tangled up in themselves. Feeder, on the other hand, keep it lean and don’t fire above their station, a decision which pays off more than that may insinuate. It’s still baffling that a double album from Feeder exists in the first place, and perhaps even more so that it’s really not bad at all.
For fans of: Royal Blood, Muse, Arctic Monkeys
‘Black / Red’ by Feeder is released on 5th April on Big Teeth Records.
Words by Luke Nuttall
