Originally published by L.S. Media. July 6th 2010.

Welsh rock music is very much on a high right now, what with the Stereophonics having released their best album in years, The Manic Street Preachers on the verge of yet another sell out tour and even older stalwarts like The Alarm enjoying a huge renaissance with new audiences, add to this the rollercoaster band that is Feeder and you have got the making of one hell of a line up at Millennium Stadium.

Feeder themselves have released their seventh studio album and it is bar far the best album that the band have released since the untimely death of drummer Jon Lee in 2002.

Sleek and edgy at the same time, Renegades kicks off at high tempo and never once loosens the grip on your ears or lets you press fast forward to get to the next track. The opening track, White Lines is an absolute blinder and will have you immediately grabbing for the air guitar that you have let lie unused for too long.

There isn’t a bad song on the album but there are certainly many highs, and you get the feel of front man Grant Nicholas stamped all over the tracks, not just through his keen observations of humanity throughout his lyrics but through the direction that the band now seem to be taking as they move away from acoustic numbers.

The band have been clever by showcasing these songs as a separate band called Renegades, it took the heat of them for a while and has made the upcoming festival dates and autumn tour one to certainly look forward too.

Renegades as a genuine piece of work, shows the hallmark of being one of the classic rock albums of this decade and awful lot for the next studio album to live up to. This next offering is due out in October and is made up from songs that were recorded at the same time as this current album. How this will sit with the fans having to learn what is realistically a double album remains to be seen but for now there can be no complaints.

Ian D. Hall