With several well-received singles as precursors, London trio
Feeder's debut,
Polythene, was released in 1997 in the wake of grunge and Brit rock and trod much of the same ground as their contemporaries. There's nothing necessarily wrong with tracks like "Crash" or "Tangerine," and "Polythene Girl" and "Cement" meld melodic crunch with big, singalong choruses. However,
Feeder never really stakes out their own sound, instead resembling other popular acts of the period like
Smashing Pumpkins on songs like "My Perfect Day" and "Radiation." They do manage to inject some shifts in dynamics, slowing the tempo a bit on "High" and "Suffocate," which keeps everything from blending together. However, in the end,
Polythene is a record that sounds great and sustains interest while you're listening to it, but fails to contain anything memorable once it ends. ~ Tom Demalon