The Wolf You Feed

With a clean early punk sound not terribly removed from bands like Social Distortion and Gang Green, Texas’ own Riverboat Gamblers have been around just more than a decade, and their melodic but aggressive sound is at its best on The Wolf You Feed. After turning down the fury dial from “scorching hot” to “toasty warm” on their previous outing (Underneath the Owl), it’s nothing but good news here, with the energy level back up at the high end of the dial. Songs like “Bite My Tongue” and “Soliloquy” reek of garage fumes and recall The Hives or International Noise Conspiracy. A little slower and with a different flavor of swagger, “Comedians” and “Dead Eyes” are hard-hitting jabs of power rock, while tunes like “Good Veins” and “Blue Ghosts” are pristine examples of the Gamblers’ finely pointed, moshpit-focused punk rock. It's modern enough to sound new and exciting but clearly rooted in the best purveyors of the first wave. Producer/musician Ted Hutt (Flogging Molly, Gaslight Anthem), Mark Ryan (Mind Spiders), and engineer Stuart Sikes (White Stripes) all contributed their estimable skills to this fine collection.