(V2 Music/Shock)

Howling soul punks return with mixed results

Robbers And Cowards established Cold War Kids as radio and festival favourites, with their distinctively hollering take on soul, rock and blues seemingly the beginning of a varied and interesting career. To use another frazzled roots rock outfit as a comparison, if Robbers… was CWK’s equivalent of The White Stripes’ definitive stripped down garage rock statement White Blood Cells, new album Loyalty To Loyalty is their Get Behind Me Satan, a more stylistically diverse and textural collection of songs. Bouncing single Something Is Not Right With Me and the familiar down ‘n dirty piano soul of Mexican Dogs are the Cold War Kids you already know well, but there are more varied moods (and unfortunately, quality as well) elsewhere on the album. Dirgey ballads like forlorn closer Cryptomnesia don’t do them any favours, while the gender-swapping narrative of Every Man I Fall For is an ambitious attempt to bring Billie Holliday torch song to their woozy blues rock, but the group overreaches. There are some impressively atmospheric and evocative moods conjured by the rising dynamics of Dreams Old Men Dream, while the tribal clatter of Welcome To The Occupation is another potential live favourite. While it’s admirable that CWK have expanded their horizons on this latest album, a few too many tracks lack memorable hooks. The best moments of Loyalty To Loyalty, however, confirm that it’s certainly not time to write these Kids off just yet.

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MATT THROWER

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