Music Reviews
Artist:
Black Rebel Motorcycle ClubTitle:
Baby 81Label:
island
There was a time when BRMC were really cool. They looked shit hot, all cool hair , only venturing out in black threads and associations with the excess of rock n’roll : bass player Peter Hayes was a flash (like many) in Brian Jonestown Massacre. Over the years, they have forayed into merging their frenetic punk rock n’roll with other musical influences.. Not quite working, following a few disinterring records, band spats, label drops and poor sales. Now they are back, with an album showcasing what they have always done best: dirty and dark garage.
Combining strong Oasis ‘Be Here Now’ inspired guitars, with pounding choruses, the album features one of the band’s strongest singles to date, ‘Weapon Of Choice’. The snarling vocal suggest this is BRMC not giving a penny about what people think of them now. They have found their pace, and this is definitely what they do best. This chugging beast of a track harks back to their earlier deathly dark stamping material in a dangerously good pace.
Opening track Berlin is a wave of menacing guitars, think a much darker approach of the repetitive big hooks of Franz Ferdinand. A BRMC tradition of a big chorus and soulful, full-on desperate vocals completes the come-back. Grasping for the last breath, at times on the album, it seems like each track is a combination of several ideas, thrown together for maximum impact: often making them quite forgettable.
‘Not What You Wanted’ is saved from being a plodding mess by some epic guitar work, and a floaty, carefree melody. Definitely a new approach from Black Rebel Motorcycle Club: taking their textured frenzied sound and slowing it down into a big melting anthem, which works well with
Working your way through the album there are some gems’ – Window is incredibly colourful with it’s extended Beatlesesque build up – but often it unfortunately sways in familiar territory with the recipe of chugging verses, Oasis style guitars and big choruses. It wasn’t broke, they tried to fix it, and now they have returned to what they do best, with mixed, interesting result.
