Glam grunge exponents, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club (BRMC), are back with a vengeance on their eighth album, “Wrong Creatures”. The album was produced by the legendary Nick Launay (Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Arcade Fire and Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds) and is due to be released on 12 January 2018. Their last release “Specter at the Feast” was back in 2013 and the intervening time seems to have reinvigorated the band.
BRMC, consisting of founding members Peter Hayes (vocals,guitars and keys) and Robert Levon Been (vocals, bass and keys) as well as drummer Leah Shapiro have a long history stretching back to the days Hayes played briefly with the Brian Jonestown Massacre (featuring in that epic film Dig!). They have shown remarkable longevity despite a tumultuous history (including break ups, health scares and label problems) and this release is extraordinarily fresh and exhilarating.
Swerving between walls of sonic noise (see opening intro “DFF” and “King of Bones”) to a sneering punk attitude in first single, “Little Thing Gone Wild” to The Jesus and Mary Chain-like grungy melodic low fi pop in second single, “Echo”, this is a fantastic return. “Wrong Creatures” maintains the unique elements of BRMC – slightly unhinged seedy guitar-driven stomp – while injecting more of a pop melodic spine.
Tracks “Calling Them All Away” and “Circus Bazooko” indicate the progression of BRMC – the introduction of new sounds, new tones and an emotional complexity that seems to infuse their history into one anthemic release. But at the end of the day, BRMC are a welcome sign that sneering, posturing, snotty rock’n’roll is not dead, and we are all the better for that.
BRMC are about to commence an epic tour across northern America throughout January and February, with an Australia tour scheduled in March and some European festivals planned July. Full details can be found here.
Long live guitars!
Tracklist:
Wrong Creatures:
1. D.F.F.
2. Spook
3. King of Bones
4. Haunt
5. Echo
6. Ninth Configuration
7. Question of Faith
8. Calling Them All Away
9. Little Thing Gone Wild
10. Circus Bazooko
11. Carried From The Start
12. All Rise
