Turbowolf - The Free Life album review

God only knows how much smoke seeps out of Turbowolf’s rehearsal rooms. I doubt their singer even knows where the drummer sits among all that fragrant fog, the guitarist’s fuzz pedal a low hum as the speaker stacks bleed intermittent stabs of feedback. It doesn’t sound like the kind of environment that might equate to an album brimming with infectious melody and stuffed with ideas, but Turbowolf’s latest album is their best yet. 

For the uninitiated, Turbowolf pick and mix from a range of influences that include Kyuss, Jane’s Addiction, occasionally, Sabbath, and a host of spangle-eyed, psych rock bands, but it’s their subtitles that elevate them above their Big Muff-playing contemporaries. There are moments here that are pure Beefheart or Zappa and his Mothers. The creeping synth lines and an unerring ear for rich melodies means that for all their aural gymnastic bombast, there are real songs at the heart of everything. It’s a rewarding, wild ride.