Album Review: BRMC – Wrong Creatures
Wrong Creatures
Released Jan 12th 2018
Words: Nick Jacques
So here we are, it’s 2018 and with the New Year up and running we have a new Black Rebel Motor Cycle Club album and does it come with a new direction? Electro or possibly Euro-pop I hear you cry??
Erm…. no it doesn’t. It’s the same old BRMC churning out more of the same pedigree of dark and immersive indie-rock we’ve come to expect from them for quite some time – although it does have a few intriguing twists and turns along the way.
BRMC are one of those bands that refuse to know when their time is up. Despite all the hardships a band can encounter in a lifespan, this is a band that has stood the test of time and simply got on with what they do best. Ignoring the doubters, sticking to their guns and letting their music do the talking.
If you are expecting a return to the glory days of their much loved self-titled debut then I am sorry you won’t. You will not be pogoing up and down like the care-free fool you once were to Spread Your Love or tapping your feet incessantly with a big stupid grin on your face to the infectious Shuffle Your Feet from their understated classic 3rd album Howl. Instead you will find yourself being drawn into more familiar territory of seething and grinding atmospherics that sparingly moves up into third gear.
On Wrong Creatures (their 8th album, yeah I know!) the quality of the song-writing, at times, really comes through. Slow burning gems Echo and Question of Faith show a depth and captivating dynamic which makes them all the more memorable tracks. The spaghetti western atmospherics of Haunt pass through like a lonely tumbleweed – a scenic and desolate piece of music.
Elsewhere when the pace picks up, so do the number of well executed guitar licks; King of Bones, Spook and Little Thing Gone Wild. Each with the ever present and alluring vocals of Hayes & Been help to carry the tracks along nicely.
Songs like Calling Them All Away and Circus Bazooko showcase a different side to BRMC’s song-writing credentials. The former feels like you’re caught up in séance with the band and the latter tries to conjure a sense of disorientating bravado – it reminded me a bit of the band Temples.
For the album closer, we find BRMC in uplifting and climatic form on All Rise. A sombre number crammed with strings and even horns combining to try and breach the emotional threshold.
Strange Creatures is an album that wants to show you the darker side to its beast. Whilst it might have been tamed over the years, it’s still not afraid to look its doubters in the eyes and show you something different with the intention to expand its horizons.
Listen to Wrong Creatures here:
poppedmusic 