Victorious (Wolfmother album)

Frontman Andrew Stockdale wrote all of the songs on Victorious.

Like those on Wolfmother's previous releases, the songs on Victorious have been compared stylistically to the music of various influential hard rock and heavy metal bands of the 1970s and 1980s. Writing for The Boston Globe, Marc Hirsh proclaimed that on the album "Wolfmother once again lives in thrall of Black Sabbath and the heavy hard-rock boogie of '70s bands like Foghat", also naming Boston as a reference point for the style of "Best of a Bad Situation".[14] Similarly, PopMatters writer Jedd Beaudoin identified Black Sabbath's influence on opening track "The Love That You Give", as well as noting stylistic similarities to Sweet, Queen and T. Rex on "Baroness".[15] Loudwire's Chad Childers compared "Victorious" to Black Sabbath,[2] while National Public Radio's Jason Heller added Led Zeppelin, MC5, Deep Purple and The White Stripes to the list of similar bands.[10]

The title track "Victorious" was written about "small victories we have ... More so than a battle", which Stockdale claimed "can be a bit one dimensional".[2] The chorus lyric "She will be victorious" was initially going to be "We will be victorious" instead, but Stockdale changed it because he didn't want it to sound "enemy-driven".[2] "Pretty Peggy" is described as a "love song" by Mikey Cahill of News.com.au and Beaudoin of PopMatters,[15][16] while Heller highlighted its "slickly harmonised, larger-than-life, woah-woah-woah chorus".[10] The National Public Radio writer also included "Baroness" in the category of love songs, describing the track's lyrics as "saucy come-ons".[10]

In a track-by-track commentary of the album on Spotify, Stockdale explained that "City Lights" is lyrically "about living in a small beach town in Australia" and visiting larger locations like Sydney or metropolitan areas abroad to "have that city fix, get out of the bubble ... and have that kind of anonymity and variety".[17] "Gypsy Caravan" was co-written by Spiderbait drummer and vocalist Kram during an impromptu session with Stockdale in Byron Bay, and was originally known by the title "Behemoth". Kram initially sang the verses of the song, which Stockdale later rewrote during the sessions with Brendan O'Brien.[17] Bonus track "Wedding" was co-written by Kadavar drummer Christoph "Tiger" Bartelt.[18]

Victorious entered the Australian Albums Chart at number 17 on 27 February 2016, 14 places lower than both Wolfmother and Cosmic Egg.[19] In the UK it reached number 25 on the UK Albums Chart (the same position as Wolfmother),[20] as well as topping the UK Rock & Metal Albums Chart.[21] In the United States, the album debuted at number 71 on the Billboard 200,[22] as well reaching number two on the Hard Rock Albums chart,[23] number eight on the Tastemaker Albums chart,[24] number nine on the Alternative Albums chart,[25] and number 11 on the Top Rock Albums chart.[26] The album also reached number nine in Germany,[27] number 20 in the Netherlands,[28] number 34 in Finland,[29] number 35 in the Flanders region of Belgium,[30] number 49 in the Wallonia region of Belgium,[31] and number 92 in Italy.[32]

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	61/100[33]
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[34]
The Boston Globe	Unfavourable[14]
Classic Rock	3.5/5[35]
Consequence of Sound	D+[36]
DIY	[37]
Kerrang!	[38]
The Observer	[39]
PopMatters	[15]
Record Collector	[40]
Uncut	7/10[41]

Media response to Victorious was mixed to positive; aggregating website Metacritic reports a normalised rating of 61 based on 11 critical reviews, indicating "generally favourable reviews".[33] Music magazine Kerrang! awarded the album four out of five stars, claiming that it is "easily good enough to keep Wolfmother in orbit".[38] Jedd Beaudoin of PopMatters described the album as a "welcome and appropriate return from one of the best bands to emerge in the last decade", praising in equal measures Stockdale's songwriting and O'Brien's production.[15] The Observer writer Phil Mongredien had mixed views about the album, describing it as "flawed, but enjoyable".[39]

Writing for National Public Radio, Jason Heller claimed that all ten songs on Victorious "screech for the stars", praising tracks such as "Baroness", "City Lights" and "Gypsy Caravan" in particular.[10] Loudwire's Chad Childers claimed that the album features "the vitality, energy and muscle that put the band on the musical map back in the mid-2000s", highlighting "Victorious", "Pretty Peggy" and "City Lights" as "standout" tracks.[2] A review by The Queensland Times praised the album for being "true to the traditions of the Aussie rock world with heavy sounds built in a beach-side studio".[42]

On the other hand, Consequence of Sound writer Jeremy Zerbe criticised the album as one of the worst released by the band, claiming that it feels "lethargic" and "only finds momentum rarely".[36] Multiple critics also disapproved of the album's derivative nature: Mikey Cahill of News.com.au claimed that "Stockdale rips riffs off everybody" on Victorious,[16] while The Boston Globe's Marc Hirsh concluded that the album "simply colors within the lines drawn by others".[14] Classic Rock magazine panned the album as "one man [Stockdale] putting a lot of effort into going absolutely nowhere",[35] while AllMusic's Thom Jurek described it as "little more than a thrown-together mess".[34] DIY reviewer Shefali Srivastava praised "Victorious", "City Lights" and "Gypsy Caravan", but concluded that the album is "too nice, too safe, and ultimately, too predictable".[37]