At some point in the last couple of years, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club must’ve had an epiphany - just keep your head’s down and do exactly what you’ve started out doing, and do it well. For a while after their game-changer, Howl (2005) where they tossed out all the accouterments of their dark-rock shoegaze past in favor of acoustic balladry and introspective wayfaring, their return to rock seemed doomed due to a number of misbegotten attempts to supercharge the Howl-era sound with their original flavor. After the dismal performance of Baby 81 (2007) and it’s supposed political-allegory content and then the “WTF”-esque release The Effects of 333 (2008), their attempt to recapture some of the strange late-90’s, early Noughties post-rock experimentation that they originally adhered to their sound, it took a few years, but they finally got back to that initial mantra with Beat the Devil’s Tattoo (2010). Filled with the same screeching, darkly melodic Americana-goth that imbued their first two records with such a sinewy power and drive, Devil’s Tattoo is a much smarter and thought out record, relying on a far more dynamic approach, rather than just big guitar rock or hairbrained echoplex musings. Eschewing the pitifully boring experimentation that occasionally has bogged them down in the past, songs like “Half-State” with it’s winding bass crawl and “Evol”—”Too Real“‘s twin—feel like classic-BRMC; not too distant, somewhat familiar, and just catchy enough. Having been subject to a number of lineup changes, though the core members Peter Hayes and Robert Levon Been remain intact, the change is still somewhat obvious. There are no discernible hits like “Whatever Happened To My Rock’N’Roll (Punk Song)” from 2003’s Take Them On, On Your Own, but the Beat the Devil’s Tattoo is solid enough effort to give the band back the punch that’s been missing for some time now and allow them to stand on fresh legs.
Listen to “Conscience Killer” and “Beat the Devil’s Tattoo”
Download “Beat the Devil’s Tattoo”
