Black Rebel Motorcycle Club: Beat the Devil’s Tattoo, Album Review

Posted on May 31st, 2010 By Chris Homa Under: CD Reviews Tags: black rebel motorcycle club, cds

Artist Black Rebel Motorcycle Club
Album Beat the Devil’s Tattoo
Released 2010
Label Vagrant Records
Link http://www.blackrebelmotorcycleclub.com/

With a name appropriately taken from Marlon Brando’s gang in The Wild One, BRMC returns with their sixth effort, Beat the Devil’s Tattoo.

Listening to Beat the Devil’s Tattoo is like walking down the desert highway with the most bad-ass of struts. By inseminating indie’s vulgar beats with a touch of blues and a sleezy dose of glam, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club has crafted an album devoid of heart and full of lust. It’s quite awesome, if I do say so myself.

As implied, the record presents a flurry of influence and style. Perhaps one of the most apparent qualities is the overt distortion found on the album’s rougher tracks; noise rock obviously fuels the album’s more dissonant fires, and only adds to the power of Beat the Devil’s Tattoo as a whole. ‘War Machine’ is a beautiful, reckless drive of distorted tones with an undeniably glam rock feel, and along with ‘Conscience Killer’ they form two of the album’s strongest tracks.

The record’s soft spots, however, prove as durable as their hard-headed counterparts (although ‘The Toll’ may run a little thin after the first two minutes). ‘Long Way Down’, with its melancholy drip, floating vocals and hopeless yet somewhat hopeful piano backing, pulls against the listener while pushing beaten-down sentiments across the channels, leaving, of course, without any resolution whatsoever.

However, the listener should be prepared for a descent into the jam band persona, with ‘Half-State’ providing over ten minutes to the album’s queue. It’s true that neo-psychedelic lines abound, and due in part to this added influence on top of the band’s already stacked stylistic repertoire, the album seldom grows tiring (even during it’s final ten minute dirge).

Beat the Devil’s Tattoo is punishing, soulless rock, and should not be overlooked.

Note: for fellow native Phoenicians this should provide the perfect soundtrack for the damning summer ahead.