The Toadies - Feeler

The Toadies have been around forever — since 1989, at least, which at this point qualifies as forever. After breaking up in 2001, they reformed late in the decade; the newly released Feeler is the second album by Toadies 2.0. Originally recorded in 1997, Feeler was supposed to have been the follow-up album to 1994’s popular Rubberneck; however, its release was denied by Interscope Records (and if the Toadies publicity material is to be believed, that wound still smarts a bit). The album has now been rewritten and rerecorded, and while it maintains the Toadies’ grungy metal feel, it also reflects a decade spent reconciling the band’s status as grownups with the youthful rage of their most popular work. In some cases, it works, and in some it doesn’t.


So, what’s changed? Well, classic Toadies was darker, vocalist Todd Lewis sounded angrier, and lyrics played a bigger part — their most famous song, “Possum Kingdom,” is a dark exploration of murder, rape, vampires, ghosts and/or serial killers (depending on who you ask). Either way, it’s a dark song. Feeler, though, dials back the creepy vibe and sounds more radio friendly, more consistent, and more uniform. Songs like “Waterfall,” and “Suck Magic” do echo the skulking Toadies spirit of yesteryear. The album opener “Trust Game,” which successfully pairs an acoustic guitar and Lewis’ foreboding voice, and the fuzzed-out “City Of Hate” showcase how the band’s sound is evolving. On “Dead Boy,” one of the album’s standout tracks, Lewis’s voice is filled with passion and eerie zeal, the guitars squeal with urgency and the lines “you your face on every page that I read / well I wake up and you'll be gone / and I'll know where you'll be” buttress the instrumentation — this song could play in the background while someone flees from the serial killer that's been stalking them. The frenzied, angsty ode to loathing of “Dead Boy” is the best example of the way that the Toadies resurrects the ‘90s grunge-metal sound throughout the album.

Despite Feeler having a surplus of wailing guitars and screaming vocals, this album is not as dark and hate-filled as the old Toadies. “Mine” is a slower jam, an eerie ballad of choice and control that sits solidly with the band’s creepy vibe. The low-tempo closing track, "Pink,” and, counter-intuitively, “City of Hate” seem more friendly than older Toadies fare. (For the Toadies, of course, “friendly” means “it doesn’t sound like anyone is slated to die soon.”)
On the whole, Feeler is a well-built album, but not one with as wide an appeal as their earlier work. Time changes everything, and Feeler may have gotten caught between the second album it should have been and the current comeback it's supporting. It's close enough to old Toadies to give you a taste, but fails to quite deliver the desired level of crunchy, creaky, eerie, rageful noise.

By janetkjay