Cage The Elephant – Back Against The Wall

Hailing from Kentucky, Cage The Elephant can be thrown in the pool of bands that favour good ol’ fashioned rock and unashamed of it. Their sound, although lacking in originality, makes up its failings by hitting a raw energy which exudes from frontman Matt Schultz. It is in the extremities that Cage The Elephant really shine, their live shows said to be testament to this.

Their Beck-like sensibilities in ‘Back Against The Wall’ may sound a little contrived and so perhaps it doesn’t offer a unique standpoint on what they are trying to achieve, if indeed they are attempting to do so. Sitting somewhere between their previous singles, the laid back affair of ‘Ain’t No Rest For The Wicked’ and the power rock of ‘In One Ear’, ‘Back Against The Wall’ finds itself too comfortable, in danger of being throwaway, like one-you-have-heard-before.

It chugs along pleasantly enough with affections in an Alex Turner-esque manner, with Matt Shultz stretching out the syllables, keeping you from completely withdrawing. With the usual rise and fall that come with the typical verse-chorus combo, there comes the climactic guitar break. ‘Back Against The Wall’ shows a weaker side to a band that is more than capable of throwing in the air a great song to rock out or mellow to. Wind it down or turn it up, perhaps?