Back in 2004, Icarus Line released a record by the name of Penance Soiree. It was snarly, sleazy, sexy beast of a record, and one of the finest examples of rock n’ roll music committed to tape in recent memory. It was an album you could really believe the band had lived every minute of and – not surprisingly perhaps – Icarus Line slowly imploded in the years that followed. Singer Joe Cardamone and lethal guitar hero Aaron North had a bust-up that led to North leaving, and taking much of the thrust with him. Black Lives at the Golden Coast followed, and was a massive disappointment despite some nice psych-rock. Myriad line-up changes followed, and after a few years of radio silence, Cardamone is back with Wildlife and a new zest for life – or drugs, if I’m being cynical.

Originally titled Joe Cardamone vs Icarus Line, the album’s been almost single-handedly created by Cardamone who wrote, produced and engineered almost all of it. He’s helped out by Icarus Line veteran Alvin de Guzman and relatively experienced band member Jeff Watson, and describes the record as “if you love rock n’ roll music that is actually made by motivated fuck ups who had no other choice, then this is for you.” After North quit the band, you could hear Cardamone’s influence take over, moving IL away from the scuzzed-out rock n’ roll to something more soulful, a bit more garage rock, and with a touch more funky swagger. Wildlife continues along this path, and for the most part is a return to some kind of form.

Cardamone clearly has a love of psych-rock, Iggy and the Stooges and the rock n’ roll lifestyle and every single one of those facets is to the fore on this record. Although credit has to be given to Cardamone for taking on production duties, some of the tracks aren’t as in-your-face as they could be. However, there’s a passion that can’t be denied and when this record is good, it’s very good indeed. Opener ‘King Baby’ swaggers with some metallic-sounding mandolin and Cardamone’s sleazy vocals, and ‘We Sick’ is a creepy and edgy tale of drink and drugs with some off-kilter drums. Once Wildlife gets into its stride, both ‘Venomous’ and ‘No Lords’ are strutting and angry stompers, and ‘Sin Man Sick Blues’ (I know, it’s like Bobby Gillespie joined Motley Crue) finds Cardamone snarling “California is junkyard lately” and “gimme something real, I’m sick of all these pills / gimme something real” like some heroin-addled maniac. It’s an all singing, all dancing cliché, but somehow the band manages to pull it off.

When things are slowed down completely, that’s when the wheels come off. Both ‘Bad Blood’ and ‘We Want More’ are rather drab, and Cardamone really should know that rock n’ roll only truly works when it’s balls-out, heads-down music rather than “sensitive” balladry. As such ‘All The Little Things’ channels some Jagger/Richards mojo and batters the listener into submission with its bluesy charm, and ‘Tina Turner’ is preposterously sleazy, with its gospel chorus chant of “love is black”.

The record closes with the mid-tempo comedown of ‘Like A Scab’, and the title track ‘Wildlife’, which is a fine Iggy Pop ‘Passengers’ pastiche. Sure, Icarus Line are in thrall to the rock n’ roll greats, but when you get down to three chords and all that, it’s hard to avoid recalling what’s gone before.

Wildlife is a step in the right direction towards the rehabilitation of Icarus Line, and while they might never again scale the heights of Penance Soiree, Joe Cardamone has shown that underneath all the drugs and the fuck-ups, there’s an artistic heart that still beats powerfully.