CD REVIEW: FOLSOM – Bad Ways

CD REVIEW: FOLSOM – Bad Ways
Independent
June 2016
Reviewed by Shane Pinnegar
7 ½ /10

I hope I can be forgiven for expecting something punk or metal from the boozey pirate image on the cover of Folsom’s debut album, Bad Ways – but like everything Folsom, genres and stereotypes mean very little to this quartet of Parisians.

Bad Ways starts with some Primus-like jazzy rock – quirky, though without that heavily plucked bass, and a riffy edge. Discotrap features a funky jam over an unapologetically disco beat, and on Intoxicated, their musical exploration jumps around mid-song: starting with a jangly, strummed pop vibe, before some muscular guitar shoulders its way in for a wigout, then gently and groovily winding down.

Cannibal borders on Rage Against The Machine territory, which Werewolf goes hardcore, and when it’s all said and done, we’re left partly with a sense of ‘what the hell was that’ and partly ‘when can we listen to it again.’ Lovers of heavy music that dig Frank Zappa’s refusal to be tied down will doubtless love this.

Category: CD Reviews