For a long time I’ve heard these rumblings about this Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, but actually knew nothing of them. The name suggested some obnoxious metal band to me, and I wasn’t really interested in learning more. Still, you can only ignore the rumblings for so long, and then you start kicking yourself for judging a book by its band name.

Howl is the third album by BRMC and the first that I’ve had the pleasure to hear. Perhaps this puts me at a disadvantage not knowing what standards to hold this album to, but I prefer to think it gives me the opportunity to judge it more objectively.

The style of music in Howl is comparable to a polished version of The Velvet Underground’s eponymous album. It’s a little bit country, a little bit rock ‘n roll and a handful of time tested indie conventions. The vocals are tight, the guitars are jangly but not sloppy, and the harmonica is thick and delicious like a five dollar milkshake.

If I have one complaint it would be the last track, “The Line”. It is an eight minute track that comes off as two separate songs, the second track being the hidden “Open Invitation”.The hidden track gimmick is wearing thin with me, that’s all.

This album is a bit of a departure from the first two albums which were more upbeat with a strong rock element. Still, this album was great enough that I got my hands on their first two albums at my earliest convenience.

Immediate Favorites:

• Track 1: Shuffle Your Feet
• Track 3: Ain’t No Easy Way
• Track 4: Still Suspicion Holds You Tight
• Track 13: The Line

Songs I Could Do Without

• None. They’re all keepers.

Songs That Will Grow On You

• Track 5: Fault Line

Bits of Trivia:

• Robert Levon Been goes by Robert Turner of the first two albums in an effort to distance himself from his father, Michael Been of The Call.
• The band was dropped by Virgin Records in 2004 to be picked up by RCA. Nick Jago left the band at the end of their summer tour, but came back in 2005.

Filed under: Album Reviews, Reviews by John