Since their first album in 2008 Cage the Elephant are still going strong with a fifth album set to release this April. For over a decade they’ve entertained fans across America and Europe with their bluesy tracks such as ‘Ain’t No Rest For The Wicked’ to the almost psychedelic styled musings of ‘Come A Little Closer’, and with each album they’ve released something new. And so, with the new album ‘Social Cues’on its way, I thought we could delve into the bands history.

From the first guitar riff that kicks of their eponymous debut album with the song ‘In One Ear’ to the last song ‘Free Love’ it is an album seeped in classic, indie and blues rock. Each track, holding at 3 and a half minutes on average leans heavily on its riffs keeping the song charged without a dull moment and it’s as solid as a debut album can be. The single ‘Ain’t No Rest For The Wicked’ grabbed the attention of critics and the mainstream public alike, making its way through various charts and out performing their two previous singles released for the album, ‘Free Love’ and ‘In One Ear’.

It’s their next two albums where the band experiments, keeping the formula of the first but changing that up to try find new sounds. ‘Thank You, Happy Birthday’ is the second album and by far the band’s most abrasive and unstable, filled with lead vocalist and front man Matt Shultz’s screaming vocals which at times sound as though the words are tripping over one another and merging into the frantic punk noise of the album. But the surprises come with songs such as ‘Shake Me Down’, a ballad of sorts which gives the album a depth of different moods whilst still keeping its indie punk feel like a Pixies album from the 90s.

And so, with this experimentation their next album ‘Melophobia’ takes a more mellow almost stoned tone compared to the previous two, having a sixties garage-rock feel to it. The tone jumps around the album with the opening song ‘Spiderhead’ laden with its continuous keyboard chords taking centre point to Take it or leave it which harks back almost to the previous album, without becoming too punk centric.

We then step into their most recently released album ‘Tell Me I’m Pretty’an album which Matt Shultz said that no one song is “representative of the entire album, kind of like each sound has its own personality”. Which rings true for the most I think, although you can hear the Dan Auerbach’s influence in the album from the Black Keys. By no way am I saying the album is bad, just that it doesn’t feel properly original, at least not for the songs where Auerbach seems to have had a strong influence on. ‘Mess Around’ is a prime example of this, the song wouldn’t have felt at all out of place on the album ‘Tighten Up’by the Black Keys.

Regardless though I still have high hopes for Cage the Elephants future, and with the new album ‘Social Cues’coming out with the likes of Beck guest starring on the album and looking like they’re not slowing down any time soon with their worldwide tours, the band is here to stay for a long time to come.