Wild Ox Moan – Wild Ox Moan
Release Date: 4th March 2022
Label: Self Released
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Genre: Blues, Rock, Alternative, Rock n’ Roll.
FFO: Rival Sons, Great Van Fleet, The Temperance Movement.
Review By: Ross Bowie
Wild Ox Moan are back, after a recent name change, with their blend of blues-rock. When The Danish 3-piece get it right, they can write joyful blues licks that know how to crunch in all the right ways.
The self-titled album opens with I Am The Mountain, which is a sombre beginning before bursting into life with a hip-swinging blues riff in the middle of the track. This is a trick that Wild Ox Moan rely on heavily across the 10 tracks. Hollywood is the most modern sounding track and is very reminiscent of latter-day Incubus.
However, not every song has that standout riff or the big climax that the opening 2 tracks deliver. The middle portion begins to blend into one, with only really The Masterplan standing out from the pack.
Wild Ox Moan are a victim of their own scene, as many bands walk the line between slow and emotive blues and blistering catchy riffs, but most tend to chase the former, rather than letting their hair down and writing big attention-grabbing riffs. Vocalist and bassist Mads Ingemann Bendixen has an incredible soaring voice and when he goes for those big chorus moments, he sounds incredible.
This album sounds like a band who are on their debut, but all the potential is there for Wild Ox Moan to explode onto the scene once they start to expand their sound, and hopefully next time out we get to see them taking more creative risks.
(3 / 5)
