Wolfhounds - Middle Aged Freaks

by Dixie Ernill

published: 4 / 5 / 2015

Label: Odd Box Records
Format: CD

intro

Unfocused fourth album, their first in over twenty years, from reformed Romford-based indie rock outfit, the Wolfhounds

It’s been a busy twelve months for Romford’s the Wolfhounds, with this new album following hot on the heels of the re-issue of their debut from the 1980s, ‘Unseen Ripples from a Pebble’. Whilst technically it is a new release, no less than 10 of the 13 tracks have already appeared on various singles that the band have released since their return to recording action after a twenty odd year absence in 2012. As such it does feel a little like a compilation and doesn’t flow in the same way that a regular album might. Indeed the Wolfhounds themselves don’t seem to have a definitive sound these days with so much variety spread across this release it’s sometimes hard to believe it’s the same band. Opener, ‘Skullface’ and ;Middle Aged Freak’ are grungy, almost heavy in nature, whereas ‘Cheer Up’ and ‘Divide and Fall’ (the best two tracks on the album) are more standard indie-pop songs, the former in particular being a jaunty sing-a-long song (other than the lyrics!). Elsewhere, there’s a sleazy number in the shape of ‘Rats on a Raft’ that primetime Mark E Smith would be proud of, while both ‘Slide’ and ‘Tunnel’ have a spooky feel to them. ‘Security’ is acceptable mid 90’s indie, but the rest are somewhat lacking in any real direction. When you see the likes of fellow 80’s indie-types the Popguns making a storming comeback album Pop Fiction, I can’t help but think the Wolfhounds have missed a trick here.

Track Listing:-

1 Skullface
2 Cheer Up
3 Divide And Fall
4 Middle Aged Freak
5 Anthem
6 Slide
7 Tunnel
8 6,000 Acres
9 Rats On A Raft
10 The Devil Looks After Her Own
11 Security
12 Built-In Obsolescence
13 The Ten Commandments Of Public Life

Band Links:-

https://www.facebook.com/TheWolfhounds
https://twitter.com/thewolfhounds

Label Links:-

http://oddboxrecords.com/
https://twitter.com/oddboxrecords
https://www.facebook.com/oddboxrecords
http://oddboxrecords.bandcamp.com/

favourite album

Bright and Guilty (2022)

In our Re:View section, in which our wriiters look back at albums from the past, Kiimberly Bright is impressed by an Optic Nerve reissue of ‘Bright and Guilty’, the 1989 second album‘ from the legendary Wolfhounds, one of the best C86 bands and Romford's finest.

Untied Kingdom...or How to Come To Terms With Your Culture (2017)

Unseen Ripples From A Pebble (2015)