SOUND BITES

Perhaps among the lesser known bands (in North America, at least) in the bass-heavy hard rock scene that claims Royal Blood and Death From Above as its top talent, Turbowolf have already proven themselves to be more adventurous than most of their peers through two loud, fuzzed out records. For The Free Life , their third and supremely noisy record, they've gone out and enlisted assistance from their most high-profile peers; Sebastien Grainger of Death From Above appears on the swaggering single Cheap Magic , while Royal Blood's Mike Kerr shows up on previous single Domino . That these genre heavyweights lend their talents to the record can only help Turbowolf's stature, and it's completely justified. In turn, there are also guest appearances by up and coming artists; Idles' Joe Talbot and Vodun's Chantal Brown lend vocals to Capital X and Very Bad , respectively, adding even more flavour to the already delicious grooves. The most striking thing about The ...

  Coming three and a half years or so after a self-titled debut that turned some heads on their home turf, Turbowolf's second album gives more insight as to why they've been referred to in some circles as the saviors of rock n' roll. Opener  Invisible Hand  gets the album going at a furious pace that turns into a mean, half speed monster before coasting into lead single  Rabbits Foot , an elastic track that's full of heavy groove.  Solid Gold  follows, a chugging, fuzzed out track with processed children's vocal effects and cheesy backup vocals that end up resulting in a bizarrely charming track tries to finds commonalities between Royal Blood and Kasabian. Current single  Nine Lives  has strut, swagger and a massive sound to match its  spectacular video . The album doesn't lose much steam until its second half, which finds the band stretching out their songs in length and scope. It gets no less intense, though;  Twelve Houses  pumm...