ENG: BRMC - Beat the Devil’s Tattoo
Skrivet av Carl Davidsson
MusikrecensionArtist: Black Rebel Motorcycle Club
Album: Beat the Devil’s Tattoo
Genre: Garage/Rock/Neo-Psychedelia
Releasedatum: 2010
Betyg: 
Since Black Rebel Motorcycle Club released their second album Howl in 2005, probably one of the best rock albums of the 2000s, I have been ready for a new delicate gospel influenced experience on every BRMC album In all honesty, I have been incredibly disappointed with the two releases following Howl as the band has produced some kind of garage rock with almost headache-causing guitars.
But once again, it is time for me to set my hopes high and give the new album Beat the Devil’s Tattoo a fair chance.
Although I don’t find the title Beat the Devil’s Tattoo that convincing it is pretty logical due to the religious aspects of the band’s lyrics, which probably is what sets them apart from other bands playing this kind of music. It is heavy guitars and it is the telephone voice mix on the vocals that – thank god – are good enough too, at least sometimes, break through the loud guitars. But in general you cannot hear the lyrics, so the Christian messages are mostly something you read about.
Too much for too long
With all the songs (except acoustic Sweet Feeling) sounding pretty much the same, it is a sign of lacking self-distance that the band has included as much as fifteen songs on the record. Some of them are also extremely long (like Half-State, clocking in on 10:19). If you do not have the class that Led Zeppelin (clearly an influence) has, and do songs with this length, you are pacing around in a very dangerous area. No, actually, it is more like you are playing football in a mine zone in Afghanistan.
The songs lack energy and the riffs are boring. Shortly, Black Rebel Motorcycle feels like they have been sleepwalking for years by now. You just listen to song after song looking for a contrast, something new that sticks out. While you struggle to escape this inflicted leather jackets and mannered coolness, you get caught in a strange haze of languorous guitars – I just can’t get this ultra-compressed sound that is completely lacking dynamism.
Lack of imagination
Even though the band’s musicality obviously is irreprovable, they don’t show that much of it as their imaginativeness seem more absent than their musicality present. I think it is time for these wild ones to go their separate ways by now, as they have already given all they can together. But since this is the first record on their own label Abstract Dragon I guess that the expanded possibilities to make money will make them squeeze out a couple of more easily forgettable records…
Höjdpunkter på skivan: Sweet Feeling – which is the only song that doesn’t sound like all the rest.
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