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On first listen, this has less variety in songcraft than The Big Roar. Primarily because there’s a lot less dynamics this time around. Most songs on Wolf’s Law have no surprises in them like how many tracks on The Big Roar often shifted between softer verses and loud choruses. Wolf’s Law is oceans of noise from the moment you hit play, and whenever that’s broken it’s with a rare individual track like the very low-key “Silent Treatment.”

But the song quality seems more consistent at the same time, if that makes sense. The hooks this time around are a lot better in general, even if most never hit the peak of “Cradle” or “Chapter 2” from the previous album. I always thought I’d be set if The Joy Formidable were to make an album full of songs like “Cradle,” and that’s pretty much what they did here. After the mediocre songs the band has been writing for soundtracks and such in-between albums, this was a pleasant surprise and a quality follow-up to The Big Roar.

The biggest problem with Wolf’s Law is that it doesn’t seem to flow as an album. It just feels like a collection of songs, whereas many tracks on The Big Roar lead into each other and strengthen the overall experience. The Joy Formidable didn’t really break into much new territory here, and worse, they may have become more predictable in the process, but they can get away with just releasing another solid set of songs for now, as I love what they have going. How many other modern, female-fronted rock bands can rawk this hard and do it so consistently well outside of just one hit single?