Wool followed up their excellent debut EP,
Budspawn, with the slightly more accessible but uneven full-length album
Box Set in 1994. Still essentially a punk band at heart,
Wool has expanded their range to include more overt pop (as on the bouncy opener "Eden") and even psychedelia ("Take a Look") with generally satisfying results. In fact, what
Wool has become is a scruffy hard rock band with punk rock roots and an inclination toward medicated introspection. Songs like the rollicking "Kill the Crow" and "Blackeye" are near-perfect pop-punk, with more grit and attitude than most of the bands who were popular in the early '90s for doing watered-down versions of the same.
Box Set's energy often sags due to moody pieces like "Chances Are" and "God Rest His Soul" (which are fine tracks nonetheless) and the tongue-in-cheek "box set" concept in the album's liner notes reads like an unfinished joke. Still, this was an unfairly overlooked album, lost amid the overwhelming glut of alternative rock in the early '90s (which saw far lesser bands like Bush receiving undue amounts of attention).
Box Set was unfortunately the band's last work; after guitarist
Franz Stahl was recruited to join former Scream bandmate
Dave Grohl in the Foo Fighters,
Wool dissolved. ~ Andy Hinds