Cosmic Egg : Mildly Disappointing

After listening to Wolfmother’s first album, I was dying to try out their other songs. However, I was wary of the fact that after releasing Wolfmother, 2 of the band members left, and were replaced, before Cosmic Egg was released. Released last year, it was Wolfmother’s attempt at grabbing the limelight once more.

However, it’s not quite upto the mark.

Overall, the album does not pack the same energy and pace that Wolfmother had. Just like I rated almost all the songs in that album at 4/5, originally almost all of the songs in Cosmic Egg get a 2/5 or 3/5. There are just a handful of memorable songs in the entire album, which is the only saving grace for the album. But soon, the album grew on me, and a few songs were upgraded.

1. California Queen – 4/5 - A good start to an otherwise mediocre album. A good song, with an interesting and thumping intro, graduating into a hypnotic verse, followed by a screaming chorus, with a lovely little guitar solo added at the end.
2. New Moon Rising – 5/5 – My favourite song from the album. I just love the tempo, which never lets up, in this song. The bridge and chorus are the USP of this song. I’ve never heard anything like it before. A great workout song to boot.
3. White Feather – 2/5 – Utterly forgettable. Too pop-like for my liking. Did not expect this from Wolfmother Just realised the band is the just the same in name, since 2 out of 3 members are new.
4. Sundial – 3/5 - Ambivalent about this song. Relatively slow. But with an incessant piano in the background, and decent vocals, this song deserves another look, but doesn’t quite cut it for 4/5. Quite a few of the songs in the album, are good, but not particularly great or memorable, so they’ve got 3/5, unlike Wolfmother.
5. In the Morning – 2/5 - A slow rolling song, a good moodsetter, but otherwise mediocre. You deserve an award if you don’t skip the song within the first 30 seconds. The song eventually improves, but it’s a bit too late by then.
6. 10,000 Feet – 2/5 – Harsh, but not fast. Not a great combo here. Along with a not-so-memorable chorus, and a truly forgettable post-chorus.
7. Cosmic Egg – 3/5 – An interesting chorus, which takes quite a while to get to an interesting chorus. It’s the wait which denies this song 4/5. Expected more from the title song. An uninspiring solo at 3:20 doesn’t help either.
8. Far Away – 2/5 – The intro is truly shocking. Sounds like something out of a Huggies diaper ad. The rest of the song isn’t much better. A sweet melody is the only saviour for this song. It eventually does change track, but in all likelihood, you’re likely to have done so before it.
9. Cosmonaut – 4/5 – This song is mighty confusing. The guitar and drums make we want to give it a 4/5, but the vocals hold me back. It’s not consistent. The verse is too slow, with annoyingly long gaps between lines, but at the same time, a chorus has a nice lilt.
10. Pilgrim – 3/5 – Sounds like pleasant drilling at first, but then you realise that there isn’t much else to the song, which can get a bit annoying. I like some of the vocals, but it doesn’t quite cover up for the overall monotony of the song. Strangely enough, the song slows down halfway through.
11. Eyes Open – 4/5 – This song takes a while to get to the good bits, but once it does, it’s worth the wait. At least for me. I like the bits after 2:50 (the song’s more than 5 minutes long). The song slows down, a piano is introduced, and the vocals sound beautiful. I love that bit.
12. Back Round – 4/5 – The song just sounds somewhat last century. I don’t know why. I don’t care. After a while, the song is amazing. A good angry listen.
13. In the Castle – 2/5 – More of a lullaby for more than a minute. If you have the patience you might like the song. I didn’t.
14. Caroline – 4/5 – I quite like this song. It’s slow, but the vocals and the music blend in quite well. Heavy crashing, similar to Collosal, from Wolfmother.
15. Phoenix – 3/5 – A slightly pop-ish start, soon gives way to a standard Wolfmother song. It’s sufficiently paced, but doesn’t quite grab my imagination. So it gets a safe 3/5.
16. Violence of the Sun – 4/5 – A promising start. I liked the intro, because it was a bit quirky. It’s 6 minutes long. I like 6 minute songs only if they’re worth the 6 minutes. This song takes a while, but builds upto a nice crescendo…if you have the patience