Coda.fm

Silent Cry

by Feeder

• Buy it at Amazon.com

Feeder have long been the supply teacher of Brit-rock, the BBC DJ Scott Mills of pop-punk if you like--unremarkable yet undeniably able, and somehow proficient or lucky enough to exist beneath the radar, shrewdly outlasting most of their contemporaries. The single most memorable thing about their career is that they once rhymed "Devon" with "Lemon" in nonsensical disregard for lyrical cogency, but their 2006 singles collection contained 20 tracks (yes, TWENTY!), most of them instantly recognisable and entirely affable. None of us will live long enough to find out, but Feeder may well end up rivalling the cockroach in terms of covert resilience. And, as album number six, Silent Cry, true to form, neither furthers nor hampers their progress. That is to say, it's exactly as good as they’ve always been--whatever you consider that to be. You know the drill by now--comfortable runs of clean guitar, Grant Nicholas’ earnest blue-eyed vocals, add distortion, rinse, repeat, fade. That they manage to squeeze fresh juice from such a well-wrung fruit is credit to genuine songwriting flair. And though there are equally no real surprises, there are standouts that nudge their alignment just off-centre. Take "Tracing Lines" with its tight beats and itchy minimalism reminding of The Strokes (though also highlighting Nicholas’ comparative lack of charisma), "Miss You" which thunders along burning adrenaline like Foo Fighters at their most agile and closing track "Sonorous" with hurtling crescendos a la Muse. --James Berry