Wicked nature

"'Wicked Nature' is a portrait of progression: album one - rich, meaty - is Nicholls' first spot in the producer's chair alongside You Am I's Paul McKercher. By the (weaker) album two, he's in full control and favouring a sparse, more hollow timbre that doesn't help fend off the inevitable onset of soundalike grunge fatigue by the time you get to 'Darkest Shadow'. A little more variation would have been nice, but you know what they say about stopped clocks...".

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"Wicked Nature is fan-funded and independently released - and there perhaps lie the roots of its flaws. Nicholls' long-departed 2002 bandmates and a decent record company might have counselled against his co-producing the album, painting a faceless naked woman for its cover artwork and spinning it out to double-album length. The Vines have two kinds of song: the faster ones, which sound like a less angsty Nirvana; and the slower ones, which also sound like a less angsty Nirvana".

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