These Welsh rockers here wrap up a trilogy of albums that began in ‘22 with the explosive, chart-busting Torpedo. Their first ever double album and 12th LP to date, Black / Red is a personal opus for Feeder’s singer/guitarist Grant Nicholas, partly because it marks a hard fought victory against the beast known as writer’s block. Though a somewhat bloated effort at fully 18 tracks, the album still serves up a wealth of music and ideas for fans to sink their teeth into.

While Black / Red is stuffed with their trademark wistful rockers (‘Sahara,’ ‘ELF’) and power-pop crowd-pleasers (‘Scream,’ ‘Unconditional’), there’s also some curveballs. The muscular, Royal Blood-style ‘Playing With Fire’ brings the heat, while the bagpipes-featuring ballad, ‘Soldiers Of Love’, adds some celtic spice. Yes, the veterans don’t always get it right, but Black / Red still has plenty to recommend.

6/10