ALBUM REVIEW: The Family Rain ‘Under The Volcano’

One of the last great musical revolutions happened back in the 90s when Nirvana reached worldwide success. And it’s already twenty years Kurt Cobain has died. Then, at the beginning of the 00s The Strokes came out from New York City and brought indie rock back into the mainstream music circuit. We’ve also had Arctic Monkeys, Oasis, and the genius from Detroit Jack White. Simple, straight-to-the heart rock’n’roll played with a guitar and a set of drums. That however means that everything along these lines has already been done and it’s hard to be highly original. But one important thing to consider is how to mix all these music influences together without making your debut album sounds like a nonsensical carnival of colours.

The Family Rain, a rock’n’roll trio of brothers from Bath, actually succeeded in doing so with their debut album ‘Under The Volcano’ which will be released on February 3. After reaching some time ago music producers’ ears with their rapturous demo ‘Trust Me… I’m A  Genius’, they’ve been able to build an accessible album that puts heavy rock riffs alongside more melodic choruses à la Julian Casablancas and simple rock’n’roll sounds possibly borrowed from Jack White.

I guess this is a winning formula (the album producer is Jim Abbiss who’s worked with Kasabian and Arctic Monkeys by the way) as you have no time to get bored. One moment you’re listening to the metallic/stoner rock riffs of ‘Don’t Waste Your Time’ and ‘Reason To Die’ while the guitar intro of ‘Pushing It’ is reminding you of your headbanging days whilst listening to  Queens Of The Stone Age. Three minutes later ‘Together’ throws you into The Strokes indie rock melodies and you feel like touching bluegrass thanks to ‘Binocular’. Among all these influences, you can even find some hints of Arctic Monkeys and maybe Fleet Foxes.

Can it be possible? It is, actually, if you have the wisdom not to scream out you’re the most original band in this world. But, as said before, it is harder than ever to be original today. You just need to cut your path through the ocean of existing music influences. And The Family Rain have definitely done this. The album is great in the sense that is very catchy in its simplicity and roughness and goes straight-away to your head and ears. You can easily sing along with vocalist/bassist Will Walter just enjoying the music and think that this is just the beginning of it all. To quote the last song of the album,  wish you “All The Best”.

Marcella Sartore

3.5 / 5