Wolfmother fails to live up to previous CD

Four years after their critically acclaimed and truly refreshing debut, Australian rock band Wolfmother has released its second album, titled “Cosmic Egg,” to get fans rocking once more. Although it’s definitely some talented rock ‘n’ roll, it lacks the eccentric Wolfmother style I had learned to love so much.

The album opens with a driving bass lick making for a momentum-building song with head-bopping time changes and Ozzy Osbourne-esque vocals.

Then, without missing a beat, the first single from the CD, “New Moon Rising,” begins and proves it was chosen to represent the album for a reason. It’s definitely the most fun song on the CD and begs to be sung along to.

The rest of the first half is Jack-Black-approved rock ‘n’ roll, complete with great guitar riffs and strong, piercing vocals. But the songs attempt to be more epic than fun, which makes it different from Wolfmother’s previous album.

Halfway through the album you hit the title track “Cosmic Egg,” which really is rather dark despite one of the guitar’s standout blues rhythms. Overall though, it’s an unfortunately forgettable track.

“Far Away” is a nice change of pace. After starting with a poppy keyboard, the song turns into an anthem and ends, rightly so, with a trilling piano.

And then we’re right back to rock ‘n’ roll — bringing the likes of Audioslave, Black Sabbath and even Led Zeppelin to mind.

But the album ends too minor for my taste. I joyfully embraced the poppy rock ‘n’ roll of Wolfmother’s first album and enjoyed slipping it into my car’s CD player for great driving music, but as for “Cosmic Egg,” I’m tempted to just push it aside for, well … I don’t know when would be the right occasion to listen to it again.

It’s good rock ‘n’ roll reminiscent of the ’70s, but it obviously doesn’t have the nostalgic qualities that I appreciate when listening to ’70s music, which is, after all, half the appeal.

This new album rocks — but it lacks the poppy, fun sound I was hoping Wolfmother would deliver again.