Turbowolf’s third album, The Free Life, is a very enjoyable snapshot of distilled chaos. They’ve created a beast that gets let loose and flails around on recording, a great record to throw yourself about in your bedroom to. Their first, self-titled album from 2011 tapped into a sound which would later be popularised in the UK by Royal Blood. Their second album, Two Hands, was them broadening their influences and experimenting with ideas and adding tinges of electronica to their sound. The Free Life isn’t perhaps as willing to dare or stretch their formula further, but it is the most distilled version of both these records and the band sound at their most concise.

Their riffs are thick and incredibly busy and the production does capture every end of the Turbowolf spectrum. There’s a sense of hyperactivity behind the album which works very well in its favour. It gives the album a big sense of fun and makes you think of the days where your walls were laden with torn up strips of Kerrang and fingerprinted Blutac.

There are many allies that feature on Turbowolf’s all out assault of an album. All tangible comparisons you could make with the band feature on guest vocal spots. Royal Blood’s Mike Kerr, Death From Above 1979’s Sebastien Grainger and Idles’ Joe Talbot all make an appearance. The features on songs ‘Capital X’, ‘Cheap Magic’ and ‘Very Bad’ are all solid, however, they do muddy the identity of The Free Life as you’re forced into thinking of their contemporaries’ other projects in relation to the album. Turbowolf’s approach is to tear up the place and throw as much in their sonic arsenal at the listener, making for a very energetic and fun listen, however, it does curb the album’s ability to stick with you.

When the album does relax slightly it’s at its strongest. ‘The Free Life’ is the album’s strongest track and has a real sense of light and shade, a formula which is needed for albums like this. It’s one where the riffs calm down slightly and Chris Georgiadis’ vocals are allowed to fly on their own, which is when they work best. His vocal is an odd one. High pitched and nasal, it’s hard to get on board with at first but once it clicks into place it’s very easy to get behind.

There are some softer moments on the album. The cheesily titled ‘Concluder’ (which concludes the album) is a very nice touch. It demonstrates a more subtle side of the band whilst still sticking to their guns. It isn’t exactly ‘the slow one’ off the album but its softer approach allows them to bleed in their bursts of eruption which makes them all the more powerful. ‘Up & Atom’ is another song which decides to swap its huge cannon for a cutlass instead. It stretched out its claws and leaves the hook to the vocals, which again makes the heavier moments all the more powerful.

The majority of the album’s sound is set to maximum everything (which they should consider as a name for their fourth record) and it’s like being hit in the face with a sonic club. The album’s ferocious hit is very enjoyable but it doesn’t stick its claws in. I long to see the band live though. The chaos they capture here must be nothing by comparison to their live performance. They sound like an accessible Lightning Bolt which is where I think the band’s influence may truly lie. They seem to be a band that want to push their sound as far as they possibly can. There is a spark in their music which makes me very curious to see where the band go next. There’s an energy and a hyperactivity in the mix that really rubs off on you, making you want to shake the crutches of adult life and long for your teen years where it really did feel like a free life.

Chris Middleton

Website: turbowolf.co.uk
Facebook: facebook.com/turbowolf
Twitter: twitter.com/Turbowolfband