Crobot
Welcome to Fat City
(Wind-up Records)
Crobot came just about out of nowhere (somewhere in PA, to be exact) with 2014’s Something Supernatural, a hooky bit of stoner-infused hard rock. While it wasn’t quite perfect, it hinted that the band understood how to craft a big anthem. Thankfully, we didn’t have to wait long to find out of the group could hit their potential. Welcome to Fat City is seriously fun, bright, and occasionally bombastic, but it’s also a bit too repetitive for its own good. However, that gets to a big reason why Crobot’s second album is a success: it feels so elemental. Merging 70s and 90s hard rock fun with stoner rock flair, Crobot have distilled down what has made the best rock so immediately gratifying. The bluesy melodies, the funky and fuzzy guitars, the soulful vocals, and the pulsing and punchy rhythm section: it all comes together to hone in on why hard rock has spoken to fans across generations.
That’s not to say Crobot are the best heavy rock band of all time; such thoughts would miss the point. Instead, the Pennsylvania-based band have clearly studied up on the greats and why they struck a chord to them. Whether it’s Soundgarden (Yaegley sounds like a more impassioned Chris Cornell), Zeppelin, Sabbath, Deep Purple, and even more modern bands like Clutch and Truckfighters, Crobot have (and even moreso on their second record) aced their rock history final. Everything is massive: the riffs, the leads and solos, and, of course, the hooks. You could call this record fat (pun intended) because it’s clearly stuffed with the goods of the gods of rock.
Aside from minor complaints associated with its hypnotic, occasionally repetitive nature, Welcome to Fat City is a true delight. It’s the kind of record that is tons of fun and spans the decades well enough that fathers and sons (and mothers and daughters, of course) can bond over their shared love of the riff. This type of music is usually much better live, and if this excellent record is any indication, Crobot’s live shows much be truly joyous.
Purchase Welcome to Fat City here.
