Black Rebel Motorcycle Club - 'Beat the Devil's Tatto' (9/3/2010)

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Back in the 60s and 70s there was a popular wave of crossover bands. No, this isn’t referring to the rap-rock phenomenon of the 90s. This crossover is referring to the fact that the Americans wanted to sound like the Brits and the Brits the Americans. When I listen to the Black Rebel Motorcycle Club (for first time in my life) I can’t help but think of them as the American counterpart to The Cult – where The Cult came to California to live the life of a biker, BRMC sounds like they upped their Cali roots and moved to the frigid, gray London town to ride their bikes.

And now to immediately contradict the previous statement – the opening (and title) track to this album ‘Beat the Devil’s Tattoo’ reminds me of ‘Mutiny’ by William Elliot Whitmore, which is pretty American. But this is more or less where the American sound ends. The following song, ‘Conscience Killer,’ demonstrates that BRMC are fuzz junkies and proceed to dive head first into a bluesy garage band sound.

‘Bad Blood’ and ‘War Machine’ continue the fuzzed-out mantra vaguely reminiscent of a gritty Stereophonics. Around the end of ‘War Machine,’ the album is 20 minutes young. At this point the listener has been blasted against the wall and is begging for more! These openers are excellent cuts! But then, perhaps as an issue with sequencing, the album takes a turn and heads down a path where slow and uninspired seem to be popular themes.

But let’s ignore these songs for now and continue on with the eighth song, ‘River Styx’ – by far the best track on here. A heavy intro with a looming drum beat and a walking guitar is exactly what was needed to bring the album back to life. You can literally see the sleaze dripping off of this song especially when the guitar solo comes in. Ladies and gentlemen, grab your leather jackets, we’re going for a ride!

Or so you thought. The following songs are good, but they’re nothing compared to the rockers. ‘The Toll’ and ‘Long Way Down’ bring back a slower side to the album. They are solid songs, especially because of the introduction of a piano and harmonica to the BRMC wall of noise. ‘The Toll’ is particularly pleasant to listen to because singer Peter Hayes is being backed by an unnamed female, which nicely rounds out the sound.

But then the album draws to a close and the listener is left with the nagging feeling that there wasn’t enough rock n’ roll. Sure, the slower, sludgier songs are good cuts but they disturb the pace. BRMC excels on ‘Beat the Devil’s Tattoo’ with the ass-kickers, unfortunately there aren’t enough of them.

6/10