For the few moments before the vocals kick in on the leadoff track, “Teen is Still Shaking,” it seems like a mistake surely must have been made somewhere along the way. It seems almost absurd to anticipate those familiar throaty vocals emerging amongst the swirl of drum beats and guitar riffs, but TK Webb’s voice emerges quickly in the proceedings at 15 seconds. It seems, thankfully, only slightly out of place in amongst the unfamiliar instrumentation — a phenomenon perhaps only identifiable to those expecting a more organic followup to Phantom Parade and KCK.
The Webb present on Ancestor, however, is one seemingly fed up with his quieter folky-blues ways. For better or worse he’s opted to channel such frustrations to a bed of hard rock riffs and early metal psychedelia. It’s an entertaining enough excursion for the rest of us, and a fine way to pass the time until the day, hopefully in the very near future, when Webb opts to dust off the old acoustic, once again.
