Canadian grunge rockers
Big Wreck broke up after the 2001 album
The Pleasure and the Greed, with lead singer and guitarist Ian Thornley forming his own
Thornley namesake band and continuing his solo career. A rekindled friendship between
Thornley and
Big Wreck guitarist
Brian Doherty led to
Doherty joining the
Thornley band, which in turn became the second coming of
Big Wreck when everyone concerned went into the studio and recorded 2012's
Albatross, which didn't so much change the group's original 1990s
Soundgarden-like sound as much as restate it. This second album with the new lineup doesn't bump things too far off that original sound, either, although it does expand things a bit in a slightly more prog rock direction, with some acoustic-based tracks tossed in as well. Grungy fuzz guitars lead off the sprawling, nearly eight-minute-long opener, "A Place to Call Home," and since the album ends with a short one-minute acoustic and harmony vocal-laden reprise of the song, it's tempting to expect a prog rock-like concept album here, but that's not the case, really, although the 12 songs and the reprise do flow nicely together over a big sonic palette.
Big Wreck still sound a bit like a Canadian
Soundgarden, are still heavily influenced by
Led Zeppelin, and could still be mistaken for
Coldplay's northern brother on the radio, but there are some new sonic wrinkles here, too. "Ghosts" and "Come What May" both sound a little bit like early
Police, while "Break" and "War Baby" suggest
Bono and
U2's big-themed stadium anthems. "Hey Mama," one of the best tracks here, has that acoustic/electric Eastern drone feel that
Led Zeppelin were so good at decades ago. But overall,
Big Wreck haven't messed around with that classic 1990s grunge approach too much here, which may or may not prove to be a good commercial decision going forward. But they do it pretty well, whatever the outcome, and with a lineup of three fine guitarists, there's little doubt that this is a rock band whose members know how to rattle the walls and cell doors as long as they don't paint themselves into a predictable, generic corner. ~ Steve Leggett