Wolves Like Us

Wolves Like Us are Europe's newest entry into the world of hard rock indie-core. With a sound reminiscent of bands like …And You Will Know By The Trail of Dead, Sparta and Hot Water Music, their debut, Late Love, delivers a democratic, heavy rock sound that could easily satisfy both radio airwaves and the indie crowd, but might be considered a bit too standard to make an impression on either audience. Late Love starts off strong with opener "Burns Like a Paper Rose," a quick exercise in foot-tapping rock, before moving into "Deathless", a bottle gazing track suitable for thinking through a lonely night on a bar stool. "Secret Handshakes" uses a mathcore background riff that brings to mind At the Drive-In, but never reaches the level of their creativity. Late Love is good, but not that good, the kind of album you enjoy when it's playing but never really think to put on. Luckily, the band are only a year old, so there's lots of time to develop a sound that uses more of their strengths while making less use of their influence.