Over the past two years Feed The Rhino have built up a reputation of being one of the most intense and exciting live bands in the UK and rightly so, anyone who’s caught them live will be able to tell you how chaotic their shows are. But Feed The Rhino are more than just a great live band, and their latest album The Sorrow And The Sound is easily their strongest album yet.
Firstly anyone who has heard any of the singles released so far will be aware that Feed The Rhino have shifted to a slightly more melodic sound this time round and while some people might accuse them of selling out because of this that is far from the truth. Whilst vocalist Lee Tobin does sing a lot more on The Sorrow And The Sound the album is still full of the dark and aggressive sound of 2012s The Burning Sons, look no further than the opening track New Wave. However it is the slower tracks that really stand out this time, Black Horse is an early highlight with it’s soft verses building up into one of the biggest choruses Feed The Rhino have even while Lee Tobin sings some of the most bleak and powerful lyrics he’s ever written. This is just one of many highlights though, the greatest strength of The Sorrow And The Sound is how many standout songs there are, it feels like Feed The Rhino didn’t want any songs to be considered filler.
So despite these slower moments being absolutely brilliant the heavier moments are often equally as good. Give Up and Deny And Offend are huge hardcore punk anthems loaded with great riffs and massive gang vocals on the chorus, these songs will no doubt go down brilliantly live. Guitarists Sam and James Colley have really outdone themselves this time, every riff on this album will makes crowds want to move while Lee Tobin still does his best deranged preacher impression on the majority of the songs screaming every lyric as if the world is ending.
The Sorrow And The Sound isn’t just the best album Feed The Rhino have released, it is one of the strongest albums released this year so far. Equal parts crushingly heavy and anthemic it proves that simply calling Feed The Rhino a great live band is a huge disservice to them. After the release of The Burning Sons some people questioned how much bigger Feed The Rhino could get but this album is a defiant statement to those naysayers. Feed The Rhino are far from done and look set to become one of the biggest bands in the UK punk scene.
