Black Rebel Motorcycle Club: Howl : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone

Album Reviews

Black Rebel Motorcycle Club's third album ditches the sleek garage-rock buzz that marked the San Francisco trio's earlier work in favor of much larger doses of rock & roll mythos: cracked-voice acoustic rockers, souped-up British Invasion fare, elegantly wasted slow-burners and song titles such as "Devil's Waitin'." The opening "Shuffle Your Feet" is a hand-clap-laden ramblin'-man anthem that could pass for an Exile on Main Street outtake, and they break out steel guitar and harmonica for "Ain't No Easy Way." In terms of conjuring dark, weighty aura, country-blues numbers such as "Restless Sinner" split the difference between a late-night drive through the backwoods and a PBS roots-music documentary, but the songwriting on mellower numbers like "Promise" isn't as finely crafted as the expansive sound. Still, B.R.M.C.'s newfound ambition is welcome: Howl processes and enlivens more old-school sounds than many retro rockers can manage in their lifetime.