Black Rebel Motorcycle Club - Beat The Devil's Tattoo
Rating
RIYL
Alberta CrossThe Brian Jonestown Massacre
The Black Angels
Release Date
03/09/2010
Label
Vagrant RecordsTracklist
1. Beat The Devil’s Tattoo2. Conscience Killer
3. Bad Blood
4. War Machine
5. Sweet Feeling
6. Evol
7. Mama Taught Me Better
8. River Styx
9. The Toll
10. Aya
11. Shadow’s Keeper
12. Long Way Down
13. Half-State
Users RatingCreate an account or log in to rate this album |
Your RatingCreate an account or log in to rate this album |
Since their inception, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club has been a band fighting an uphill battle of expectations and has consistently done as they pleased in spite of this. Once touted to be the greatest band of our generation, BRMC have delivered the albums they wanted to create, when they wanted to create them, despite critics’ plans for the band. In 2005 they released Howl, an album that took them in new directions from their alternative/shoegaze sound, shifting closer towards Americana, soul, folk, and R&B. The results were phenomenal, making the record one of the best of the past decade. When their follow up Baby 81 was released just two years later, the band had returned back to their original sound, with blaring walls of guitars, angst filled catchy hooks, and a general feeling that was larger than life. The music press of the world unfairly lashed out at the release for not continuing in the direction expected of the band. While I can’t disagree that I would have liked them to further their Howl sound, Baby 81 was the album BRMC wanted to make, and they made it well. After 2008’s digital instrumental release The Effects of 333, BRMC have returned with a new drummer and Beat The Devil’s Tattoo, an album that sits somewhere between the two sides of their sound.
Opening with the triumphant title track, we are immediately taken back into the stony alternative folk BRMC have proven time and time again to be well within their comfort zone. Five months have passed since this record was released, and this song has got to be one of the most hypnotic and catchy alt rock songs of the year. New drummer Leah Shapiro makes her presence known immediately with a slow stomping rhythm that demands your attention. The outlaw dustbowl jangle of the guitars and vocals sit perfectly in the groove, giving the fans of Howl something to be excited about. This record breaks new ground for the band, as they begin to blend their folk spirit in perfect harmony with their stylistic shoegaze noise over the course of the album; “Conscious Killer” being a perfect example of this. The oft doubled vocals of Peter Hayes (guitar) and Robert Levon Been (bass) harmonize for perfect gang chants that ride over the flow of humming guitars and a hazy riding rhythm. Guitars rip back and forth with blissed out new psychedelic effects, doubling and gaining in intensity as the song reaches its climatic finish. “Bad Blood” continues to cement the return to aural glory for BRMC, with a drifting wash of shoegaze soaked guitar work that thrives with hypnotic reverb tinged vocals. The easy going vibe swirls in a fog of layers that manages to ring out and scream while remaining calm and peaceful.
“War Machine” is warped and robotic, with industrial machine charged guitars and a sub-human vocal sound. Shapiro’s drumming is timed to perfection, grinding into the pulsating wall of guitar sound to add structure amongst the chaos. The melody grasps a strong blues influence to create a unique man-vs-machine vibe that is both organic and industrialized. “Sweet Feeling” and “The Toll” deliver the Americana in heavy doses, with their warm acoustics and airy reverb, almost completely “noise” free. Generous harmonicas fill the ballads’ open spaces with soulful folk style as only these Los Angeles natives can. “Evol” jangles with loose guitar melodies amongst a tight rhythmic march that demands the listener’s attention. Hayes allows the distortion to gradually build during the slow burning trip, providing endless bursts of effect manipulated noise that thickens as the song progresses. “Mama Taught Me Better” picks the pace up with a hard grooving lushness that roars amid a staccato dance break and burly surging guitars. The hook is strong and catchy, containing a boosted level of energy from a band that is very much back in their prime.
“River Styx” rips through blues scales and shoegaze flourishes that are pushed by a dense rhythmic pulse at the core of the song. Falling a bit flat during the verses, the chorus soars into high altitudes as both Been and Hayes sing, “But I can’t run, if I can’t walk / and I won’t love, if I can’t stop / Every minute the pressure drops / from your first breath ‘til your heart stops.” “Aya” finds the BRMC boys crooning like an outlaw saloon band, slow and sparse on their usual pedal exploration for the most part. Harmonic surges of guitar noise eventually find their way into the song during the twisted hooks and bridge. The album begins to sputter towards the end with “Shadow’s Keeper” and “Long Way Down,” the former being a BRMC “paint by numbers” track that comes across a bit uninspired, while the latter a piano driven ode to the Beatles that never really takes off in any direction for better or worse. Rest assured though, BRMC go out on a high note with the epic ten minute plus “Half State,” a song deep in debt to the 90’s Madchester movement of The Stone Roses and Ride. The track breathes in distinct movements that ride the waves of guitar feedback from one section in the next with enough interesting experimentation to keep your attention despite no real memorable hooks.
This album may not be Black Rebel Motorcycle Club’s finest moment in their career, but it’s certainly a high point. The band has proven they can do as they musically please and still record an album that will keep both the critics and their fans happy. What direction they will go in next is anyone’s guess, but I know that I for one will be looking forward to it.
--Dan Goldin
Comments
Sunshine Coast, Australia
thats a big review! saw BRMC at Splendour on the weekend and even if you don't rate the album they still put on a freaking amazing live show, but I really rate the new album... cheers Dan
"If you want something done right, get a fucking Australian band to do it" - Chris Cheney